The Japan Fair Trade Commission said 80 percent of Android devices sold in the country were made by companies that had contracts with Google.
Japan’s competition watchdog issued a cease and desist order to Google on Tuesday for anticompetitive practices, in the first action of its kind against a U.S. tech company in the country.
In the order, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) said Google made smartphone makers prioritize its own services. The JFTC instructed the company to appoint a third party to monitor its practices and report back to the commission.
“By binding smartphone manufacturers and telecommunication carriers, Google has made it difficult for other competing search engine applications to be used on Android phones,” Saiko Nakajima, senior investigator for digital platform operators at the JFTC, said, according to The Japan Times.
“Google’s conduct in this case has created a risk of impeding fair competition concerning transactions—thus, we have determined that this is an act in violation of the Antimonopoly Act.”
The watchdog found Google had reached agreements with at least six smartphone makers to preinstall its search service and Chrome internet…
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