Competition Commission of India (CCI): The Coram of Ashok Kumar Gupta (Chairperson) and Sangeeta Verma and Bhagwant Singh Bishnoi (Members) dismissed the case of the informant who alleged that Google is abusing its dominant position by integrating Google Meet App into the Gmail App.
Allegations | Abuse of a Dominant Position
In the present matter, information was filed under Section 19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 by Informant against Google LLC (OP-1) and Google India Digital Services Private Limited (OP-2) alleging contravention of the provisions of Section 4(2)(e) of the Act.
Gmail is an App from Google, where the user gets all their emails, direct messages, etc., and that Gmail enjoys a ‘dominant position’ in the emailing and direct messaging market. Further, it was claimed that ‘Meet’ is a video-conferencing App from Google, where all kinds of virtual conferences and meetings happen.
Informant alleged that Google which is a dominant player has integrated the Meet App into the Gmail App which amounts to abuse of dominant position by Google.
Analysis, Law and Decision
Commission noted that users of Gmail are not forced to necessarily use Google Meet, and there does not appear to be any adverse consequences on the users of Gmail for not using Google Meet, such as withdrawal of Gmail or any of its functionalities or other services that are so far being provided by Google. A Gmail user at his/ her ‘free will’ can use any of the competing VC apps.
Further, it was added to the above observation that anyone with a Google Account could create an online meeting using Google Meet. For creating a Google account, the user need not be a user of Gmail. He/she can use email ID created on any other platform for creating a Google account.
Google Meet is available as an independent app outside the Gmail ecosystem also.
Therefore, users have the choice to use either of the Apps with all their functionalities without necessarily having to use the other. Even though Meet tab has been incorporated in the Gmail app, Gmail does not coerce users to use Meet exclusively as submitted by Google and the consumers are also at freewill to use either Meet or any other VC app for video conferencing.
Hence, no case was made out. [Baglekar Akash Kumar v. Google LLC, 2021 SCC OnLine CCI 2, decided on 29-01-2021]
