Google gets more time in Russian antitrust case

Google on Monday was granted a one-month reprieve from the ruling of a Russian regulator who found the company violated anti-trust laws in the smartphone market.

The company now has until December 18 to change its policies to comply with the ruling, Google told Reuters.

{mosads}The regulator agreed in September with a complaint filed by Russian search leader Yandex alleging that Google was engaging in anticompetitive behavior by requiring the makers of smartphones running the company’s Android operating system to pre-install the Google search application. The Russian firm alleged that the installations gave Google an unfair advantage in competing for users.

Yandex has lost ground to Google over the last year, according to Bloomberg.

Google now has until December to alter the agreements it has with the manufacturers or face significant penalties.

Google has faced off with antitrust regulators around the world as it looks to dominate the global search market and the ad revenue that comes with it.

In Europe, it is contesting charges that the search product favors its own comparison shopping service. The European Union’s competition regulator has also indicated that she is interested in at least examining, if not filing formal charges against, other portions of Google’s business.

Google says that the changes that have incurred the ire of regulators have nothing to do with its competitors and argues that while some competing services have lost out since the changes were made, others have done better.

The antitrust battles come as Google adjusts to being part of a larger holding company, called Alphabet, that its founders created as part of a major corporate reorganization.