Google loses anti-monopoly appeal in Russia over ‘obligatory’ pre-installation of Android apps

Google has been dealt a blow in its ongoing battle with European regulators — the Internet giant has lost its anti-monopoly appeal in Russia.

The Moscow Arbitration court has upheld a previous ruling from the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) that found Google had abused its dominant market position and broken anti-competition legislation. The crux of the complaint was that Google hindered the ability to create competing services on Android by forcing manufacturers to bundle some Google apps, including Gmail, Google Search, and Google Play, on the phones.