MUMBAI, Jan 9 (NNN-PTI) – India’s Competition Commission, ordered a fresh probe against global internet giant Google, over alleged abuse of dominant position in news aggregation, multiple media reported yesterday.
The investigation was ordered by the anti-trust agency, based on a complaint filed by Digital News Publishers Association, which alleged that, Google unilaterally decides the amount to be paid to news publishers and the terms for the same.
“Google is using its dominance to protect its position in the news aggregation services market. News publishers are dependent on Google for majority traffic, making it an ‘indispensable trading partner,'” said the Moneycontrol news report, quoting the competition regulator in Asia’s third largest economy.
The association also claimed that Google does not share data, on the revenue it earns from advertising on news websites, and only shares a small chunk of its advertising revenue in an arbitrary manner.
Competition Commission of India observed that, Google has been imposing unfair conditions on news publishers by not sharing data on advertisement revenue, which is in violation of Section 4(2)(a) of the Competition Act, about dominant position.
“The imbalance and denial of fair share in ad revenue, merit a detailed investigation,” the anti-trust agency said, adding that, Google will get sufficient options to present its case, during the investigation process.– NNN-PTI
