Google Gets Extension To Counter EU's Antitrust Charges

Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google has been given yet another extension  for filing its response to antitrust charges levied by the European Commission according to a report in Reuters. The Commission is alleging that Google has used its domination of the Android ecosystem to obstruct competition which is an infringement of its antitrust rules.

This is the fourth such extension received by the company. According to the Commission, the company's requirement of mobile phone manufacturers having Google Search and the Google Chrome browser pre-installed in their smartphones, denying access to apps in the PlayStore without it, harms both competition and consumers.

The European watchdog had originally asked Google to respond by July 27 but later granted further extensions requested by Google

The Android case will now have a deadline of Oct. 31 while the cases concerning the online search advertising and shopping issues have the deadline of Oct. 26 and Oct. 13 respectively.

The shopping service case charges that Google has been allegedly favouring its shopping service over others during internet search. The third case regarding its AdSense service accuses the company of blocking competitors in its advertising.

A spokesperson for the Commission said the extension were a normal practice.

"In each of these cases, Google asked for additional time to review the documents in the case file. In line with normal practice, the Commission analyzed the reasons for the request and granted an extension allowing Google to fully exercise its rights of defence," Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said in an email statement.

While Google has refuted the charges originally levied in the shopping case, it is yet to respond on the Android case and other charges regarding its shopping service.

"We believe that our innovations and product improvements have increased choice for European consumers and promote competition," said Google spokesman Al Verney to Wall Street Journal. "We look forward to making our case to the European Commission."

According to the Reuters report, the Commission intends to fine the company prohibitively as a measure of deterrence. The tech giant can be fined around 10 percent of its global turnover, which could be up to $7.4 billion in total if found guilty.

Additionally the Commission could require Google to implement "remedial  measures" such as displaying competitors' services in search results similar to what it does for its service  

A Techcrunch report points out that Google recently lost a similar case in Russia where also the company is said to have unfairly positioned the Android OS at the expense of competitors. Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) agency fined Google 438  million RUB (~$6.7 million) and asked it stop requiring phone makers to bundle Google services with its OS.