The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found no evidence that Google engaged in abusive or discriminatory practices while terminating an Indian developer’s Play Store account, rejecting a complaint filed by Liberty Infospace Pvt. Ltd. and closing the case under Section 26(2) of the Competition Act.
Liberty Infospace, a micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME), alleged that Google abruptly terminated its Play Store developer account on June 26, 2024, leading to the removal of its EasyDo Tasks–HRMS Payroll AI app, which had more than 16,000 downloads. The company claimed that the termination was arbitrary and violated competition law provisions by restricting market access.
The matter was examined by a CCI bench led by Chairperson Ravneet Kaur and Members Anil Agrawal, Sweta Kakkad, and Deepak Anurag. After reviewing Google’s rationale for the suspension and its appeals process, the Commission ruled out any abuse of dominance.
“Therefore, in the case of termination of the Informant’s developer account and in the disposal of appeals by Google against the same, there appears to be no abusive or discriminatory conduct indulged into by Google,” the order stated.
The CCI also noted discrepancies in Liberty’s submissions. Public records indicated that Dakshay Sanghvi, listed as Liberty’s Chief Technology Officer, was linked to an earlier suspended developer account, and that the appeals against the termination were filed through his personal email. The Commission said Liberty’s denial of any connection with him “appears to be factually incorrect.”
On the issue of transparency, the CCI accepted Google’s contention that revealing details of its enforcement logic or internal systems could compromise platform integrity. The order observed that Google’s approach in balancing disclosure with the need to prevent abuse was “reasonable.”
The Commission also found no merit in Liberty’s challenge to Clause 10.3 of the Google Play Developer Distribution Agreement, which allows for immediate account termination in cases of serious violation, noting that it is applied uniformly across developers.
“In view of the facts and circumstances of the present case, the Commission finds that no prima facie case of contravention of the provisions of Section 4 of the Act is made out,” the CCI concluded.
The order marks a contrast to earlier regulatory actions against Google. In 2022, the CCI had imposed a Rs 936.44-crore penalty for alleged anti-competitive practices linked to Play Store billing, which was later reduced to Rs 216.69 crore by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in 2025. That decision is now under challenge before the Supreme Court.
Legal experts say the latest order underscores a pragmatic stance — acknowledging Google’s dominance in the app distribution market but insisting that only proven misuse, not mere dominance, will invite intervention.
