Soon: Google faces serious antitrust scrutiny around the world, leading many to compare it to Microsoft in the 1990s. The latest reports indicate that the company may have been collecting data on rival Android apps to develop competitors.
Android’s success can be attributed not only to the breadth of hardware options, but also to the plethora of apps that have been developed for it, including those created by Google, the developer behind the popular mobile operating system.
Naturally, the company has access to commonly used information from Android devices that it uses to guide the development of various functions and measure the impact of any changes made to the overall experience. However, a new report from The Information reveals that Google may collect more data than it imagines through an internal program, and not necessarily for the right reasons.
The program, called “Android Lockbox”, allows the company to collect information about non-Google applications and the usage patterns of people for those applications. For example, the company analyzes how many times users open a specific application every day and the average time they use it.
The report claims that there is a dedicated team called the “Magic Eye” that analyzes the data and uses it to inform executives about how much engagement third-party services receive, potentially reporting decisions on acquisitions or the development of rival services under the umbrella of Google.
Sources told The Information that this data has been used to monitor rivals in Google services like YouTube and Gmail, as well as in fast-growing mobile apps like TikTok.
YouTube recently launched an experimental feature in India called Shorts, which is designed to alienate people from TikTok. It would be interesting to know what made Google decide that it was not worth developing it in a separate application. Google says it’s not a secret that it has access to usage data for rival apps, explaining that it uses it to improve battery life, tune Play Store’s search algorithm, and boost Digital Wellbeing features on Android.
The company further noted that this is done through the Android API for app usage data, which means other developers have the same level of access to relevant information about app usage, as long as the user does. you have allowed during the initial configuration of Android or in Settings> Google> More> Use and diagnosis.
The report is released just as Google CEO Sundar Pichai, along with CEOs of Apple, Facebook and Amazon, is expected to testify before Congress on the issue of competition in the digital marketplace.
Both the DOJ and 50 state attorneys general have launched antitrust investigations into Google’s business practices, from acquisitions like DoubleClick, Android, AdMob, and YouTube to how its search algorithm treats rival applications and services.
