Google hit with UK probe into suspected competition breaches: Report

The UK’s antitrust watchdog launched an investigation into the Google Play app store over suspected anticompetitive conduct, alongside a sweeping study taking aim at Alphabet’s and Apple’s “strong grip” over mobile technologies. 

Marking the latest broadside against Silicon Valley from an increasingly interventionist UK regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority will probe suspected breaches of competition law in Google’s rules over in-app payments in its mobile store in the UK. 

It set out various other possible interventions to tackle the apparent dominance of the two Big Tech giants in a flurry of statements on Friday. It announced a deeper planned study into Apple and Google’s market power in mobile browsers and Apple’s in cloud gaming.

“When it comes to how people use mobile phones, Apple and Google hold all the cards,” CMA CEO Andrea Coscelli said in a statement.