Google could face anti-trust issues in Russia courtesy of Yandex

Google is arguably one of the biggest targets for anti-trust accusations out there, especially in Europe. The latest such accusation comes from Russian Internet giant Yandex which has asked the country’s anti-trust regulators to look into how Google forces its services on Android users. Yandex claims that the reality of Android is much different than the “open platform” that Google promotes it as. 

Russian Internet giant Yandex has asked the country’s anti-trust body to investigate Google over the way it forces its own services on Android devices. Yandex has filed a request with the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia today, and is awaiting the official opening of the case, as first reported today by Tech.eu. Yandex says that while Android is often presented as an “open” platform, the reality is somewhat different. “Manufacturers of Android-powered devices are locked into the proprietary Google Play application store and closed APIs,” Yandex said in a statement. “In order to install Google Play on their devices, device manufacturers are required to preinstall the entire suite of Google GMS (Google Mobile Services) services, and set Google as the default search. In addition to that, device manufacturers are increasingly prohibited from installing any services from Google’s competitors on their devices.”