Google must pay a $160 million fine, an appeal court in India rules.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal upheld a decision that made the tech giant liable for millions of dollars after it lost an anti-competition lawsuit over its dominance in the smartphone market.
They found that the Competition Commission of India was right to levy the fine but removed four of the 10 antitrust directives levied at Google.
According to data, more than 95 per cent of all smartphones used in the country use Android software, which uprooted the CCI to hand down the fine after finding their business practices are “unfair”.
In addition to the financial penalty, the court also ordered Google to carry out a number of changes, like making hardware manufacturers to add their software as standard, like their Google app suite and letting users pick their own search engine app.
This process began in 2019 amid complaints from Android customers and echoes similarities between another case - which was heard in Europe - that ended with a $5 billion fine and the conclusion Google used their Android software to gain an unfair advantage in the smartphone marketplace.
Upon getting the ruling, Google challenged the fine from India’s Supreme Court and pointed out that "no other jurisdiction has ever asked for such far-reaching changes".
They went on to point out that the amendments they were being asked to make would re-negotiate more than 1,100 business relationships with software and hardware developers.
Despite this plea, the NCLAT did not remove the judgement and instead sent it to a lower court to carry on the case.
Earlier this year, Google announced it would work together with the monitoring body and promised to make reforms to its Android system in India.
