JAKARTA: Authorities announced on Thursday that Indonesia has opened an antitrust inquiry into Google over the internet company’s insistence on utilizing its payment system for purchases from its app store. They accused it of unfair business practices. The US internet giant has come under legal fire in a number of nations for requiring all Google Play purchasers to utilize its billing system.
In a statement, the Jakartan government expressed suspicion that Google has exploited its dominating position by enforcing conditional sales and discriminatory tactics in the distribution of digital applications in Indonesia. The largest app store in Indonesia, which has a population of over 270 million, is Google Play.
According to a preliminary investigation by the country’s anti-trust body. Third-party developers that distribute their products on Google Play pay a 15 to 30% service fee. It is greater than the five percent imposed by other payment systems.
According to the agency, the individual developers cannot decline the requirement. Since Google might punish them by deleting their apps from the Google Play market. And forbidding them from updating their apps.
On Friday, Google Indonesia said that it will cooperate with the Indonesian government to show how Google Play benefits creators. It said that a prototype billing system has been in place since the beginning of the month. They are offering an additional payment method in addition to the one utilized by Google Play.
Due to similar allegations, the American multinational has been the target of several legal actions in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Google has also been accused of unjustly pressuring phone manufacturers using the Android operating system to use its search engine and Chrome web browser.
The second-highest court of the EU decided on Wednesday that Google put unconstitutional limitations on producers of Android mobile devices. The court affirmed Google’s record-breaking penalties from the EU of more than $4 billion.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, filed three significant lawsuits against Google. The third was against the company. Her legal actions were the first in the world to directly target Silicon Valley tech titans.
In a related lawsuit involving the Android operating system. South Korea penalized Google roughly $180 million last year for abusing its dominating market position.
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