The supervision of monopoly behavior of multinational companies in accordance with the law is conducive to maintaining fair competition in the international market and promoting industrial innovation and development

Zhang Chenying, professor at the School of Law of Tsinghua University

On February 4, the website of the State Administration for Market Regulation announced that Google in the United States was investigated by the State Administration for suspected violation of the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China.

Google is a giant technology company in the United States with a total market value of more than $2.3 trillion. In recent years, Google has been deeply trapped in the "monopoly quagmire" and has been frequently investigated by antitrust law enforcement agencies in various countries. According to incomplete statistics, major jurisdictions such as the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea have launched more than 28 antitrust investigations against Google in the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea, and have filed more than 40 private civil lawsuits. The related cases involve almost all of Google's main businesses such as mobile operating systems, application stores, search engines, and advertising technology. In August 2024, the District Court of the District of Columbia issued a verdict, determining that Google's search business violated the US Sherman Act, which is the largest antitrust case in the US government since the Microsoft antitrust case in 1998. In November, the U.S. Department of Justice proposed to the court to split Google's browser business, and U.S. Attorney General Garland said that this was a historic victory for the American people. The U.S. Department of Justice indictment stated: Twenty years ago, Google became the darling of Silicon Valley, and the vibrant startups are committed to innovating in the emerging Internet search field. Such Google has long disappeared. Today, Google is the monopoly gatekeeper of the Internet.

Since Google announced its closure of its search business in mainland China in 2010, Google's business in China is relatively limited, mainly providing Android mobile operating systems to Chinese mobile phone manufacturers. The antitrust investigation may be related to Google's Android operating system business.

At present, the global mobile operating system is basically "two-part" by Google's Android system and Apple's iOS system. Among them, the iOS system is a closed-source operating system, which is only for Apple's own use; the Android system is an open source operating system, and Google adopts a free license mode to license mobile phones and other mobile device manufacturers. Since 2012, Google's Android operating system has been the world's largest mobile operating system and has an absolute advantage. About 70% of the world's smartphones are manufactured by Chinese mobile phone manufacturers, but most rely on Google's Android operating system.

Google's Android operating system has always been criticized by the industry as "fake open source and real monopoly." Google takes advantage of the market dominance of Android mobile operating systems and imposes many restrictions and constraints on Chinese mobile phone manufacturers technically and commercially, especially by signing a series of agreements with software and hardware manufacturers, overseas communication operators, etc., setting anti-split obligations, strictly restricting the development of Android branch operating systems, requiring a full set of Google applications pre-installed, etc.

These restrictions cooperate with the product services such as application stores, search engines, etc. developed by Google to build a strong business ecosystem in the mobile Internet era. It not only strengthens Google's monopoly position in the mobile operating system market, but also excludes and limits competition in related markets such as mobile operating systems, and hinders the innovation and development of the industry. In recent years, the market structure of mobile smartphones has gradually solidified, and mobile operating systems such as Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Alibaba YunOS have gradually withdrawn from the stage of history. Haier, Tianyu, and Duowei, which were once best-selling, have gradually disappeared from the public's vision. It is generally believed in the industry that the smartphone industry is becoming more and more headquartered, the product generational differences are getting smaller and smaller, and the innovation momentum is significantly weakened.

It is worth noting that antitrust law enforcement agencies in countries and regions such as the EU, South Korea, and India have conducted investigations into Google's mobile operating system market monopoly. In 2018, 2021 and 2022, the European Commission, the South Korean Fair Trading Commission and the Indian Competition Commission successively imposed penalties. However, judging from the public law enforcement documents, antitrust investigations in these countries and regions do not involve the Chinese market. Antitrust law enforcement agencies in countries and regions such as South Korea and India define relevant regional markets as country markets, and the EU defines them as global markets (except China).

According to Article 2 of the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China, "This Law shall apply if monopoly behaviors outside the People's Republic of China exclude or restrict the impact on domestic market competition." Therefore, if Google's relevant behaviors and practices have an impact on the domestic market in China, China's anti-monopoly law enforcement agencies have jurisdiction. There is no conflict between the antitrust law enforcement of Google and the antitrust law enforcement in other major jurisdictions. It is in line with the basic principles of international courtesy and internationally accepted antitrust rules. It is a professional law enforcement activity with a basis for the law.

The operating system is the cornerstone of the mobile Internet ecosystem. Entering the era of artificial intelligence, the business ecosystem of the mobile Internet is accelerating its evolution and reconstruction. my country's mobile communications industry has strong production capacity and super-large-scale market advantages. It has a wide range of application scenarios in the fields of government services, education and medical care, banking and finance, transportation, and life security. It has developed a new mobile operating system and built a more vibrant business ecosystem, with sufficient conditions and a good foundation. Actively learn from the experience of foreign antitrust law enforcement agencies such as the EU, strengthen supervision and law enforcement of transnational monopoly behavior, and promote Google to cancel unreasonable restrictions and practices, which will help promote the construction of a more fair and reasonable international market competition order, ensure that Chinese companies better participate in international market competition and cooperation, and inject new development momentum into industrial innovation and development and the global economy.