On Thursday, the Italian Competition Authority announced that it had imposed a fine of more than 100 million euros on Google for exploiting the dominant position.
In a statement, the authority attributed the fine of 102.84 million euros ($ 123) to the refusal of the giant group to accept the inclusion of an application that allows to locate electric car charging stations in its online application store (Google Play).
The authority noted that “Google, through the Android operating system and the Google Play App Store, enjoys a dominant position (…) It is free to remember that around three-quarters of smartphones in Italy are running the Android system “.
An investigation by the Italian authority showed that Google did not allow the use of the “Juice Pass” application developed by the Italian giant group “Enel” in the field of energy in the “Android Auto” system that allows a vehicle to connect ay benefit from various services.
The authority noted that “Juice Pass provides an extensive fan service dedicated to electric vehicle charging, which currently only allows finding charging stations for electric vehicles.”
The authority, which opened an investigation in May 2019, added: “Google, by refusing to grant Enel X Italia the right (…) to make the Juice Pass app available on Android Auto, has unfairly limited capabilities available to Enel users. “
“The exclusion of the Enel X Italia application from Android Auto has been going on for more than two years. Continuing this behavior would permanently undermine Enel XItalia’s ability to build a strong user base at a time when we are witnessing significant growth. in the sales of electric vehicles.. “
In this context, the authority required Google to provide “Enel XItalia” and other application developers with “the necessary tools to program applications that run on Android Auto”.
An independent expert associated with the authority will supervise the implementation of this condition, and “Google must cooperate fully with him and provide him with all the information that he requests.”
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