Google piloting alternative payments; CCI approves PayU’s acquisition of BillDesk; Instagram slapped with €405 mln EU fine

Google has started a “user choice billing” pilot of alternative payment systems in its Play store, in some markets, including India, as pressure mounts on the search giant over the fees it takes for in-app sales by developers. India’s Competition Commission has approved PayU’s proposed acquisition of payments gateway BillDesk, paving the way for the Prosus-controlled fintech operator to become one of the country’s biggest payments processors. Notes: Instagram is being slapped with a fine of €405 million after European Union privacy regulators decided on a long-running complaint related to how the social media platform handles children’s data, TechCrunch reported on September 5, citing Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, the company’s lead data supervisor in the EU. The penalty is for a breach of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Full details of the decision will be published next week, according to TechCrunch. India’s antitrust watchdog has approved PayU’s proposed acquisition of payments gateway BillDesk, according to a tweet by the country’s Competition Commission on September 5. The decision on the deal, the second largest internet M&A transaction in India, comes more than a year after the two companies announced their plan, TechCrunch reported on September 5. The deal will help PayU, controlled by the Dutch-listed tech investor Prosus, get a clear lead in the payments processing segment in India, according to TechCrunch. The Competition Commission of India evaluated the scope of the deal extensively, including consultations with competitors and other businesses in the industry that had expressed concerns about a potential monopoly in the country, according to TechCrunch. CCI asked the two companies to submit a fresh application in April this year, addressing several concerns. In the newer filing, PayU assured the watchdog that the “proposed transaction will not cause any appreciable adverse effect on competition,” according to TechCrunch. Google has started a “user choice billing” pilot of alternative payment systems in its Play store, in some markets, including India, The Register reported on September 5, citing a support document from Google. The move comes in response to growing pressure on app store operators – mainly Google and Apple – to give developers independent options. Last year, the government of South Korea became the first to ban the commissions – which are as high as 30 percent – that Apple and Google charge on their app stores. Google’s pilot will see the search giant offer developers the option to offer users payment systems other than its own. The trial covers digital content and services, such as in-app purchases and subscriptions. According to Google’s support document, the programme will run in the European Economic Area countries, Australia, India, Indonesia, and Japan. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds