MOSCOW, June 1 (RAPSI) - Google is suspected of abuse of dominant market position, the company faces a multimillion-ruble fine in a case brough against it by Russia's competition watchdog at the request of Yandex, RIA Novosti reported on Monday.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) initially launched a formal probe into Google over alleged violation of Article 14 of the Federal Law on Protection of Competition.
Now the company is accused of violating Article 10 of the law. If found guilty, the U.S. tech giant could be fined 'hundreds of thousands of rubles', according to the watchdog.
In February, the watchdog opened a case against Google, which stands accused of using Android mobile operating system for promotion of its own services.
Yandex claims that manufacturers have to abide by the terms established by Google to gain access to key elements of the OS, including Google Play, which is Google's official store for Android apps, games and other content. As a result, Google has developed an OS that can set any restrictions, including a ban on collaboration with competing services, Yandex said in a statement.
Google denies the allegations and claims it does not restrict people from installing other companies’ applications, including Yandex, onto Android phones.