Today’s Cache | Google goes to India’s company court, TikTok fires employees, and more

Google has approached the appellate tribunal NCLAT challenging the Competition Commission of India’s

Google has approached the appellate tribunal NCLAT challenging the Competition Commission of India’s order on unfair business practices in the Android mobile device ecosystem. The CCI in October fined Google ₹1,337.76 crore for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in relation to Android mobile devices and ordered the company to cease and desist from unfair business practices.  Google said it has decided to appeal CCI’s decision as it believes it presents a major setback for Indian users and businesses and could potentially raise the cost of mobile devices.  The company also said it believes that CCI failed to appreciate the strong evidence on record from OEMs, developers, and users demonstrating that Android’s business model supports competition for the benefit of all stakeholders. 

TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, shared that some employees improperly accessed user data of two journalists and were no longer employed by the company.  They accessed IP addresses of journalists in an unsuccessful effort to investigate leaks of company information earlier this year. A person briefed on the matter said four ByteDance employees involved in the incident were fired, including two in China and two in the U.S. The company officials also said they were taking additional steps to protect user data. ByteDance is restructuring the Internal Audit and Risk Control department. 

Microsoft has filed a formal response to the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. The FTC claimed that the $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard deal is illegal and that it should be stopped.  The merger could violate antitrust laws by suppressing competitors to Microsoft’s Xbox game console and its growing Game Pass subscription business, it noted. Microsoft in its response to the FTC tried to downplay the Xbox’s role in the industry, describing it as a “third-place manufacturer of gaming consoles”, behind Sony and Nintendo.  Activision Blizzard also filed its own rebuttal to FTC’s complaint, describing FTC’s claim as an “unfounded assumption” that Microsoft would want to withhold  Call of Duty, one of its most popular games from platforms that compete with Xbox. Microsoft is also facing an antitrust probe in the E.U. over the acquisition and a lawsuit from a group of gamers trying to stop its purchase of Activision Blizzard.