The curious case of India's antitrust investigation against Google
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Show Notes
On Friday, Google removed a bunch of popular apps like Bharat Matrimony, Shaadi.com,Naukri.com and even some dating apps like Truly Madly and Quack Quack from its Playstore. The tech giant said it was because these apps were not compliant with its billing policy.
The impact was immediately felt in the stock market. For example, shares of Info Edge that owns Naukri and 99 acres fell 3% on Saturday
These apps were scrambling and somehow at the end of the day, the government intervened and we heard news that they have been reinstated.
The tech giant wanted to enforce its new billing policy. Google said in a blogpost on Friday that out of the developers using Google Play, only ten Indian developers did not to pay for the services and how allowing a few to receive different treatment creates an unfair environment and disadvantages other apps and games.
Now while all this comes after a Supreme Court ruling that had earlier refused to stop Google from removing non compliant apps from the Playstore, here’s the irony: Google itself has been found guilty of adopting anti-competitive or monopolistic practices in India.
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