Google South Korea Office Raided by Regulators, Android Under Scrutiny
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Google’s South Korea offices have been raided by federal authorities over alleged antitrust violations again. The Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) ambushed Google’s Seoul offices on Tuesday, armed with claims that the search giant severely limits its competition by allowing its own search engine to be the default option on Android handsets.
NHN and Daum Communications, South Korea’s largest mobile search operators, filed a complaint with the KFTC back in April, stating that the Android platform is “systematically designed” to discourage users from switching to different search engines. Their complaint further outlined that Google purposely blocks competitors by delaying OS certification for phone manufacturers that even try to pre-load devices with other search engines.
Almost the same allegations launched a FCC investigation here in the US, where Google has been under the constant scrutiny of its competitors in the wireless market. A Google spokeswoman commented on the alleged raid yesterday stating that the company will “work with the KFTC to address any questions they may have about our business.”
