EU: Google gets more time to answer antitrust charges on Android

Google won extra time from European Union regulators to defend itself from European Union antitrust allegations that it wields its power over smartphone software to crush competition for mobile applications.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google now has until Sept. 7 to respond to a statement of objections sent in April, said Ricardo Cardoso, a spokesman for the European Commission. The company sought additional time to review evidence held by regulators, he said.

The EU “will carefully consider Google’s response before taking a decision on how to proceed” with the case, he said. Google didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment from Bloomberg.

By sending a statement of objections, the EU paved the way for potentially huge fines and radical changes to the way the company does business. The move came a year after the EU issued a formal complaint over Google’s comparison-shopping service. Regulators are also preparing objections targeting Google’s advertising business and an additional complaint over an older probe into its shopping-search service.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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