The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) is expected to rule that Google violated the country's antitrust regulations, according to Nikkei.

The Japanese competition regulator began investigating Google in October last year for possible antitrust violations in its web search services, following similar measures by authorities in Europe and other major economies.

The regulator determined that the U.S. technology company's contracts with smartphone manufacturers unfairly restricted competition and harmed the internet search market.