CCI orders fresh probe into Google’s misuse of dominant position

Google is looking at the possibility of a fresh investigation over alleged abuse of its dominant position in the online search advertising space by the CCI, (Competition Commission of India), the fair trade watchdog, which is already probing the internet giant for alleged anti-competitive business practices.

The latest order comes  after one Vishal Gupta complained against Google Inc, Google Ireland and Google India alleging Google Adwords accounts were extremely ''opaque and not transparent.''

The CCI also directed its director general (DG) to investigate the role, if any, of persons in the matter, who were charged with the responsibility for the conduct of their businesses.

The AdWords programme, through which Google sells keywords to advertisers and displays them in the form of short ads online generates massive revenue for the company.

In an order released yesterday, the Commission said that ''Google's practices prima facie stem, to a large degree, from its undisputable dominance in the online search market.''

''Therefore, Google's practices towards AdWords customers such as the RTS (remote technology support) firms in this case, need to be investigated.''

The order dated 15 April was released on Tuesday.

In 2012 advocacy group CUTS International had filed a complaint over the company's alleged anti-competitive and discriminatory practices in India. Matrimonial website matrimony.com Pvt Ltd, later filed a complaint which led to a Rs 1 crore by the competition watchdog for Google's failure to comply with the directions given by its director general seeking information and documents in both these cases.

''Google's practices towards AdWords customers … needs to be investigated under Section 4 of the Act … The commission directs the director general to cause an investigation to be made into the matter and to complete the investigation within a period of 60 days from receipt of this order,'' the CCI said in its latest order.

In September 2012, Gupta's group of companies which sought to set up a remote technology support business opened an Adwords account which was activated in January 2013.

Gupta alleged that his company along with several such firms, had been suspended from the Adwords programme to promote Google's own activities in a manner that was discriminatory and uncompetitive.