Russian search engine Yandex said Friday it has taken its complaints against Google in relation to its Android practices to the European Commission for investigation, Reuter reported.
The move comes on the heels of a September decision from Russian regulators that found Google in violation of the country’s anti-monopoly laws and could lend some steam to an existing EU probe into the tech giant’s practices surrounding its well-known operating system.
Following September’s ruling, Russian authorities gave Google given the tech giant until November 18 to correct infractions related to its pre-installment of certain apps on the Android operating system. In October, Microsoft announced it would replace Google with Yandex as the default homepage and search on devices running Windows 10 in Russia following the ruling.
In a Friday statement, Yandex said it believes the Russian findings of “abuse of dominance” are instructive and can be easily adopted in the EU and other jurisdictions. The company said it hopes the European Commission will help work to ensure “fair competition” and “equal opportunity” to preinstall applications on Android-based mobile devices in the future.
Russia and the EU aside, Google is also taking heat from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which in September opened an investigation into similar allegations that Google prioritizes its own products over those of the competition.
According to Russian authorities, Google may face penalties of between one and 15 percent of its 2014 revenue in Russia as a result of the regulatory body’s findings.
Filed Under: Devices
