Started a new European Union antitrust investigation against Google, in this case, due to the use (or abuse) of the voice assistant by the Palo Alto company.
Specifically, Europe is analyzing If Google forces device manufacturers to use the Google Assistant on Android devices, without leaving room for other similar products or services.
According to what was published by the legal news agency MLex This Thursday, September 9, the antitrust regulatory bodies of the European Union want to know if Google (Alphabet Inc) may be breaking laws in that regard.
Less than three months ago, the European Commission announced that its latest research on devices connected to the Internet detected a great concern among respondents about some exclusivity practices and mandatory links with certain voice assistants.
One of the problems: smart device manufacturers cannot install a second voice assistant on one device.
The most popular voice assistants in Europe are Alexa, owned by Amazon.com; Siri, from Apple; and the aforementioned Google Assistant.
The issue is not minor because statistics on the use of voice assistants, such as Google Assistant, say that it is estimated that the global market will double in four years.
It would go from 4.3 billion devices in 2020 to over 8.5 billion in 2024, according to Statista.
The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, also wants to know if Google may be using its certification process for new devices to guarantee exclusivity by other means, and the importance of the Google Play Store for different ecosystems, they explain in MLex.
The regulator seeks to know if, specifically, users can use at least two voice assistants at the same time.
Google comes with problems in Europe. In the last 10 years, it has already been fined three times for amounts that, in total, amounted to almost 10 billion dollars.
According to the firm Voicebot.ai, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are by far the most relevant voice platforms in the world market.
The ranking is based on scores provided by industry professionals, who assess the impact of these programs on the market according to the degree of utilization and future possibilities for adoption, Statista says.