China could soon start an antitrust investigation into Google on grounds the company allegedly used its dominant Android mobile operating system to stifle competition, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. The sources said the case was proposed by Huawei last year and submitted by the country’s market regulator to the State Council’s antitrust committee for review.
A decision on the matter could come next month, and possibly get affected by the state of affairs between the US and China, the US ban on Huawei and other Chinese companies, and its stance on ByteDance’s TikTok. Chinese regulators will be looking at examples set by their peers in Europe and in India if it proceeds with the antitrust investigation, the sources said. Reuters also noted that China has started a review in general of its antitrust laws. Proposed amendments include increasing maximum fines and expanding criteria for judging a company’s control of a market.
The probe into Google would look if the company’s market position could cause “extreme damage” to Chinese companies like Huawei. The US trade ban has stopped Google from providing technical support to new Huawei phone models and access to Google Mobile Services. Google had a temporary licence that exempted it from the ban but it expired in August. The company has announced plans to soon launch its own Harmony OS in smartphones next year. But losing access to the Android OS is causing a drop in the company's confidence and revenues, sources said.
It was not immediately clear what Google services the potential probe would focus on. Most Chinese smartphone vendors use an open-source version of the Android platform with alternatives to Google services on their domestic phones. Google’s search, email and other services are blocked in China.
