Google’s voice assistant in the new EU antitrust investigation, MLex reports

BRUSSELS / BANGALURU, September 9 (Reuters) – Google faces EU antitrust investigation into whether it may be forcing device manufacturers to install Google Assistant as the default voice assistant on Android devices, it reported Thursday the MLex news agency.

A new EU antitrust case could expose Google (GOOGL.O) to Alphabet Inc to a fine of up to 10% of its global turnover. The European Commission has fined more than 8 billion euros ($ 9.5 billion) in the last decade in three separate cases.

The Commission stated in June that its sectoral research on Internet-connected devices had raised respondents’ concern about certain exclusivity and linking practices related to voice assistants, such as that smart device manufacturers could not install A second voice assistant on a device. Read more

The most popular voice assistant devices in Europe are Amazon’s Alexa (AMZN.O), Apple’s Siri (AAPL.O) and Google Assistant, and the global market is expected to double to 8.4 billion devices, going from 4.2 billion between 2020 and 2024, according to the market. research company Statista.

The EU competition official has asked device manufacturers to provide evidence that they are forced to pre-install the Google Assistant and whether Google wants exclusivity by banning rivals from Android devices, MLex said.

Google said Android offers more options than any other mobile platform.

“Manufacturers can choose which voice assistants to install on their devices and users can also choose which assistants to use and install,” the company said in an email.

The Commission declined to comment and referred to the EU antitrust press conference Margrethe Vestager in June on sectoral research.

No wonder voice assistants could be the next big battleground between U.S. tech giants and antitrust regulators because of the amount of data generated about their users, said Andrea Pomana, a partner at the firm. Beiten Burkhardt.

“Therefore, it would not be surprising for high-tech companies to use their market power to promote their own voice assistants and device manufacturers with strong arms on less than favorable contractual terms,” he said.

“Google would do well to review its business practices with its partners, as the Commission, which still yearns for the Digital Markets Act, could lose patience.”

The Commission also wants to know if Google can use its certification process for new devices to ensure exclusivity by another means and the importance of the Google Play Store for different ecosystems, MLex said.

The regulator is also checking whether users can use at least two voice assistants at the same time, the news agency said.

The Commission has said it will issue a final report on its sector inquiry during the first half of 2022, after which it will be able to open investigations.

($ 1 = $ 0.8454)

Reports of Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru and Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Susan Fenton and David Evans

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