Google receives cease and desist order from Japan’s antimonopoly watchdog over unfair practices

The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) on Tuesday issued a cease and desist order against Google for unfair trade practices regarding search services on Android devices— a move that aligns with similar crackdowns on firms in the UK and the U.S. 

In a statement, the Commission said the American tech giant violated Japan’s anti-monopoly law by requiring Android device manufacturers to prioritize its own search apps and services through licensing agreements. 

While Google develops the Android operating system, separate manufacturing companies like Samsung and Lenovo produce handheld Android products, such as smartphones and tablets. Thus, licensing agreements are necessary to grant these manufacturers permission to preinstall Google apps, including its Play Store, onto devices.

However, JFTC said Google also used licenses to require manufacturers to preinstall and prominently feature Google Search and Chrome on devices, with at least six such agreements in effect with Android makers as of December 2024. 

The Commission added that the company required manufacturers to exclude rival search services as a condition of its advertising revenue-sharing model. 

Under Japan’s anti-monopoly law, businesses are prohibited from carrying out trade on restrictive terms that unjustly impede transaction partners’ business activities. 

JFTC first published the commencement of its probe into Google on October 23, 2023, and in April 2024, it approved a commitment plan from Google that addressed some of its anti-competitive concerns. 

The cease and desist order demonstrates a harder stance taken by the Japanese government as well as its first such action against a U.S. tech giant. 

The move also comes amid a trend of anti-competitive actions against Google globally. According to JFTC, it coordinated its probe with other overseas competition watchdogs that had experience investigating Google.

In a landmark case last year, a federal U.S. judge ruled that Google held an illegal monopoly in the search market, saying that its exclusive search arrangements on Android and Apple’s iPhone had helped to cement its dominance in the space.

Meanwhile, Britain’s competition watchdog opened an investigation into Google’s search services in January following the country’s implementation of new competition rules.

JFTC’s cease and desist orders that Google stop mandating that its own services be installed and featured prominently on smartphones. 

Additionally, the company should relax its restrictive conditions for the distribution of advertising revenue, allowing manufacturers to choose from a variety of options.

Google has also been asked to appoint an independent third party that will report to the JFTC on its compliance with the cease and desist order over the next five years.