Fresh blows for Google: India, US, EU Challenging Big Tech monopoly

Alphabet, the parent company of Google has suffered a major blow after the continent’s second-biggest court upholded the European Union's record antitrust fine of $4.1 billion against Google on Wednesday. Google was penalised for allegedly putting in place, strategic restrictions on Android phone makers to ensure that its search engine benefited alone. The EU verdict was almost immediately followed by another one in South Korea, where lawmakers slapped combined fines of $71 million on Alphabet and Meta for alleged privacy violations. Probes showed Google was collecting and studying user data, and tracking their website use.

As Google and other Big Tech giants are facing increasing pressure worldwide over their stifling monopolistic practices on multiple fronts, India too seems to be gearing up to address the technology firms’ said anti-trust and monopolistic behaviour. Cookie seems to be crumbling for Google in many parts of the world as it beginning to lose one battle after another in different parts of the world.

In India, a series of actions in ‘works’ led by CCI and MEITY also are leading towards possible scenarios where unrestricted non-accountability of Big Tech to regulatory authorities and also their said anti-trust behaviour in dealing with Indian news publishers are going to be seriously challenged. It may be noted that India has consistently sought to ensure tech bigwigs are not only accountable and responsible to the domestic laws but also do not violate the rights of netizens. A parliamentary committee has also been deliberating on various issues concerning the Big Tech Monopolies. These efforts come against the backdrop of multiple reversals that Alphabet, the owner of the search engine behemoth Google, faced this week in Europe, the US, and South Korea.

As per reports, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronics & IT ( MEITY), is spearheading India’s role and response in the global antitrust drive. He has been focusing hard on making social media platforms become more transparent in their operations and, crucially, comply with India’s rules and regulations in the larger interest of netizens. Brainstorming over tougher rules, regulating the internet’s misuse via bots and algorithms, chalking out India’s first-ever upcoming quarterly audit report on social media companies’ compliance efforts – Chandrasekhar has his hands full as he seeks to make the internet a safer and more equitable place for netizens.

The Competition Committee of India (CCI), the antitrust watchdog under the Government of India is also proceeding on the petition against Google filed by DNPA ( Digital News Publishers Association ) which is seeking a fair share in the distribution of advertisement revenue earned by Google on its digital platforms of news publishers. These leading media organisations of India under the aegis of DNPA, have come together to make a pitch to call upon Big Tech giants such as Google to be fair in their relationship with domestic news providers and make revenue-sharing more transparent.

In the US, of course, there has been a torrent of developments in recent days aimed at shaking up Google. A group of 13 influential companies called upon the US Congress to green-light a proposed Bill that can considerably shrink the powers of Google and other tech stalwarts. Separately, the US Department of Justice complained to a federal judge, accusing Google of monopolistic behavior. If that motion escalates to a trial and Google is held guilty, big telecom companies could lose out on massive earnings. That’s because disclosures showed Google allegedly pays Samsung, Apple, and other telecom giants billions of dollars to ensure the sole domination of its search engine.