Skip to main content

Google is being investigated by Russia's antitrust agency

Google is being investigated by Russia's antitrust agency

Share this story

Google may soon be facing another antitrust action, this time from Russia. Russia's antitrust agency is currently investigating a complaint against Google's Android operating system, according to a report from The Guardian. The complaint was filed by Yandex, a Russian-owned competitor to Google, which controls more than half the search traffic in the country. By comparison, Google controls only a quarter of the country's search market, but the popularity of Android has given the company a strong foothold in its fight with Yandex.

The complaint alleges that Android gives Google Search and other apps an unfair advantage by prohibiting pre-installed version of competing apps on Android phones. Yandex has already tried and failed to pre-install its own apps on Android phones on a number of Russian carriers. Google has faced anti-trust actions before, most notably from the European Union, but Android's open-source nature makes it a more difficult target than search. This summer, there were rumors of an Android antitrust action in the European Union, but the status of the case is unclear. Last week, similar charges against Android were dismissed by a federal judge in the United States.