Google's AdWords program has come under fire after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) initiated a probe stemming from allegations that the termination of an AdWords account of a remote technology support business was made to advance Google's own services in the said area.
The CCI is the antitrust agency in India that promotes fair competition for greater good.
Based on the CCI order, complainant is Vishal Gupta who claimed that many remote technical support firms in India were suspended from the AdWords program, which he found was Google's strategy to promote its own activities in what was described as a discriminatory, uncompetitive and unfair manner. He accused Google Inc, Google India Pvt Ltd and Google Ireland Ltd.
AdWords is a program of Google that sells keywords to advertising clients and displays these keywords online in the form of short ads. It is said to be a huge moneymaker for Google.
Among those temporarily suspended is Gupta's Adwords account under his remote technology support firm, on the grounds that the tech firm violated the user safety policy of Google but no notice or prior information was issued before the suspension. Later, Google decided to make the suspension permanent.
Together with his family and business associates, Gupta owns and manages Shyam Garment Group of Companies that include India-based Delhi Call Centre Pvt Ltd and Shyam Garment Pvt Ltd (SGL) as well as US-incorporated Audney company.
The complainant, however, says the said policy of Google is unclear and extremely vague. He also accuses Google and its group of companies for causing trade barriers aimed at helping and assisting its own program called Helpout and other associate firms.
In November 2013, Google rolled out a tool dubbed as Helpouts that connects people with experts through live interactive video for both free and paid advice. It added revenue to the company through transaction fees from providers.
The CCI said Tuesday that it will conduct an investigation to examine what made Google to take such action and to analyze as well if the termination was legitimate or not.
"It is unlikely that a firm operating under competitive constraints would undertake such actions that alienate consumers and generate bad will towards it," the CCI says in its order. "Google's practices prima facie stem, to a large degree, from its undisputable dominance in the online search market."
Google also expresses their intent to look closely into the matter and cooperate with CCI.
"We're always happy to answer questions about our business, and we're confident that our products are compliant with competition law in India," a spokesman of Google said. "We are reviewing the order and will extend our full cooperation."
It was previously reported as well that the CCI fined Google around $166,000 in March for the failure of the latter to provide documents and further information regarding another investigation way back 2012, which accuses Google of abuse of market power in search advertising and online search.
