TOKYO -- The Japan Fair Trade Commission has decided to probe Google on suspicion of violating the Antimonopoly Act by asking smartphone manufacturers to provide unfair preferential treatment for its search services during initial setup, Nikkei learned on Monday.

Authorities in Europe and the U.S. are tightening regulations on search and other services in which Google holds a dominant market share. Japan's antitrust watchdog will now examine whether competition is being impeded in the Japanese market as well.