India's competition regulator, Competition Commission of India, has filed an accusation against Google saying that the company has rigged its search results to favor its own products or third-party products by companies paying for ads on the search engine.
Google reportedly even ranks its own products against competitors when the competitor gets more traffic and should be given placement above Google's links. Not only that, but the commission also says that Google shouldn't be placing advertised links above those that are more relevant.
"We're currently reviewing this report from the CCI's ongoing investigation," said a Google spokesperson to the Economic Times. "We continue to work closely with the CCI and remain confident that we comply fully with India's competition laws. Regulators and courts around the world, including in the U.S., Germany, Taiwan, Egypt and Brazil, have looked into and found no concerns on many of the issues raised in this report."
A number of large tech companies have reportedly corroborated with the commission's concerns over Google. These companies include the likes of Facebook, Microsoft and Nokia's maps division, all of whom have filed complaints. The report filed by the commission and the comments made by other companies have not been made public, however, the Economic Times says that it has viewed the documents.
Google itself has until September 10 to respond to the allegations or request more time. After that, the CCI will be holding hearings to determine whether Google is guilty or not of violating antitrust laws. If it ends up finding that Google is guilty, the CCI can tell Google to change its practices and even fine it up to 10 percent of its income. It's not clear if that fine would be of global income or simply income within India.
Of course, this isn't the first time that Google has face antitrust concerns. In past cases, it has been required to make minor changes of its business practices.
Via: The Economic Times
