Japan FTC to give Google chance to voluntary resolve dispute with Yahoo Japan

April 22 (UPI) -- The Japan Fair Trade Commission gave Google a chance to voluntarily change its search practices after determining it had placed what it called unfair restrictions on competitors.

The commission said Google's restrictions on Yahoo compromised the digital advertising market in Japan. Google and Yahoo Japan signed an agreement in 2010 that allowed Yahoo to use Google's search engine advertising technology that linked ads to search keywords.

The Japanese watchdog agency said Google later altered the deal to restrict some of the advertising and that continued for seven years.

The commission has called Google's plan submitted this month to resolve its issues with Yahoo Japan as "workable" based on the country's Anti-Monopoly Law. Yahoo, which saw Google start to alter its agreement in 2014, merged with Line Corp. in 2023 to become LY Corp.

Last October, the Free Trade Commission launched an antitrust investigation into Google for pushing the manufacturers of Android devices to prioritize its search engines, its Google Chrome browser and Google Play app store in contracts. The commission said Google's heavy-handed tactics were meant to use its market position to illegally squeeze out third-party competitors.

The commission said Google already owns about a 90% share of the search market, making their demands nearly impossible for Android manufacturers to negotiate or have a choice to prioritize other tech companies.