| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Indian Antitrust Body Has Google Under Its Radar
Google has been facing some tough times with antitrust bodies in Europe and US investigating them for their alleged anti-competitive practises. This stems from the overwhelming majority that the company has in the Internet search segment. No other search engine comes close to ubiquity that Google has managed to achieve. Although search may be the core business Google is in, they have started developing products and hardware over the years which has made them stick this far since their founding. Gmail, Google Drive, Nexus range, Google Apps, Android, Project Glass and recently a new Hi-speed Fiber Network.
One corporation controlling so many things in the Digital space will make anyone a little nervous even though the said company’s motive is to not be evil. The Competition Commission which looks into Antitrust cases in India has initiated an investigation which will look into the alleged anti-competitive practices of Google India. This action was initiated because the commission has received information about the possible contravention of the Competition Act of 2002 by Google.
Specifically it is the contravention of Section 4 of the Act which the Commission is investigating. This section is about the abuse of the dominant position by a company. BharatMatrimony had accused Google of malpractice sometime back. This was to do with Google’s Adwords program. The matrimonial website said that keywords relating to BharatMatrimony were being sold to rivals like Shaadi and Jeevansathi. This leaves us to ponder which new company has come forward to pass on information about unfair Google practises to the Commission.
Google’s Adwords is a big revenue generator for the company in general and it is difficult to say whether these unfair practises were done with intent or were automation errors or exploitation of loopholes by BharatMatrimony’s competitors. My understanding of the issue is that Google’s domination of the search market is certainly scary but since they are making so much money out of it already, would they really go ahead and participate in such tactics to make a quick buck? Or maybe it is corrupt practises by Google employees. We don’t know for sure and we can only possibly tell when the commission concludes its investigation.
What are your thoughts on this issue? Do let us know.
Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency
WATBlog is India’s Best Blog Of 2009 and is owned and managed by WATMedia Pvt Ltd a Digital Media Company that aims at being the thought leader in the space by Connecting the Web, Advertising and Technology (WAT) Industry in India.
2012-08-16 08:13:02
Source: http://www.watblog.com/2012/08/14/indian-antitrust-body-has-google-under-its-radar/
Source:
