More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – The Competition Commission of India on Thursday ordered a probe against Google LLC., Alphabet Inc., Google India Pvt. Ltd. and Google India Digital Services Pvt. Ltd. on a petition by online gaming platform Winzo Games Pvt. Ltd. alleging contravention of provisions of Section 4 of the Competition Act, which deals with abuse of dominant position. 

 

"...the commission is of the prima facie view that Google appears to be in violation of Sections 4(2)(a)(i), 4(2)(b), and 4(2)(c) of the Act... which warrants detailed investigation," the antitrust watchdog said. The commission asked the director general to complete the investigation and submit a consolidated probe report within 60 days. 

 

Winzo, which operates an online digital gaming platform, said that to host apps on Google Play, the app developers must agree with Google's one-sided developer distribution agreement and developer program policies which contain unreasonable and unjust conditions. Google's Play Store restricts hosting of gaming applications that offer real-money games in India, said Winzo.

 

The commission observed that prima facie it appears Google denies market access to non-daily fantasy sports and non-rummy real-money games applications. This denial significantly disadvantages other players in the real-money games sector by limiting their ability to compete effectively, the commission said. "The commission is of the prima facie view that such conduct is in violation of Section 4(2)(c) of the Act," it added.

 

Winzo said Google updated its policies in 2022 under which it commenced a pilot program to test hosting of only two types of real-money games on its Play Store, which were daily fantasy sports and rummy in India for 1 year. Winzo said that allowing users to seamlessly download daily fantasy sports and rummy apps from the Play Store while showing warnings on other skill-based gaming apps will eliminate the level playing field and create a false perception of legitimation of those two over all other games of skill. The decision to limit the program’s scope to only daily fantasy sports and rummy apps and disallow all other real-money games is devoid of any reason and is thus, discriminatory and arbitrary, said Winzo. 

 

Google's conduct in structuring the real-money games pilot also prima facie appears to impose unfair conditions on non-daily fantasy sports and non-rummy real-money games app developers, the competition watchdog said. "By granting preferential treatment to select app categories, Google effectively creates a two-tier market where some developers are accorded superior access and visibility while others are discriminated against and thus, left with a competitive disadvantage," it said.

 

Due to Google's "unreasonable and restrictive policy", all apps offering real-money games of skill are only available for download from their website, a process called sideloading, said Winzo. When users access the website to download its app on Android devices, a disclaimer or warning is displayed, said Winzo. As per Winzo, the warning is peculiar to the Google-operated Android operating system, lacks any merit or reason and is completely illegal, said Winzo. The warning is not only misleading but also is an active misrepresentation resulting in loss of business, Winzo added.

 

When a user makes a payment to play skill-based games and attempts to use 'Google Pay' to make such a payment, Google displays another warning saying "This person might be flagged as risky. Check again or cancel this payment", said Winzo. Further, users are also warned about payments if the amount exceeds certain thresholds fixed by Google, without any justification, said Winzo, adding that a message displays saying "This is an unusually high amount. Check again before sending money".  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2024. All rights reserved.