Following a complaint from the search engine Yandex, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has decided that Google abused its dominant market position in relation to its Android operating system. The FAS has found that Google gave unfair prominence to its own apps on Android.
The full reasons for the decision and formal instructions to Google are expected to be published within the next days. Google will be instructed to review its agreements with mobile device manufacturers and to remove clauses preventing app developers and service providers from accessing such devices.
According to Tim Cowen of Preiskel & Co, the Russian watchdog is clearly enforcing the antimonopoly law in relation to tech companies.
FAS’s decision is unlikely to influence the outcome of the European Commission (EC) investigation on Google’s alleged abuse of dominance position in respect of Android, started in 2013 in response to a complaint from FairSearch.org.