It looks like Google is once again facing an investigation regarding anti-competitive practices. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) in South Korea is trying to probe if whether or not, Google prevented the development of Samsung's mobile operating system in any way.
South Korea's FTC opened up an investigation into the Anti-Fragmentation Agreement in May of 2016. Samsung previously made an anti-fragmentation agreement (AFA) in 2011 with Google that the South Korean company will not develop an OS based on Google's algorithms. It was agreed that all of the devices must be equipped with Google apps, which include YouTube and Gmail. The two companies also reached an agreement, which specifies that Samsung is not allowed to develop its own mobile operating system based on Android.
Since last year, the investigation that was already taking place managed to dig up that there are "suspicious circumstances" that suggest the search giant was keeping Samsung from developing their own operating system.
Previously, Google was already accused of antitrust practices for several times now. The company was fined with a good $6.75 million as it was revealed that it had competition violations by the Russian government. It is expected that Google will also get massive fine if it ends up guilty in this situation.
It seems Google really has their hands full as of the moment. On top of this investigation, a District Court in Texas ordered the company to shell out $20 million in damages for infringing four anti-malware patents with its Chrome browser. Of course, Google attempted to appeal the decision to the United States Supreme Court. In the end, the case was declined. In 2013, Alfonso Cioffi and Allen Rozman filed the lawsuit. The final verdict for the case was given on Friday after a jury trial that took place in the city of Marshall.
