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US: FTC extends its antitrust investigation into Alphabet and Android

By  |  April 27, 2016

Federal Trade Commission staffers have met with companies in recent months to examine industry concerns that Alphabet Inc.’s Google abuses the dominance of its Android smartphone software, extending a probe that began last year, according to people familiar with the matter.

The FTC is examining issues similar to European regulators, who last week charged Google with improperly using Android’s status as the world’s most popular smartphone operating system to force device makers and wireless carriers to favor Google’s search engine and other services. Indeed, the FTC is hoping to access some of the evidence behind European regulators’ case, a person said.

The FTC began looking at Android last year amid complaints from app developers and other tech firms that Google flexes its Android muscles unfairly.

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

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