New Delhi: Fair trade regulator CCI on Friday ordered a probe against them. Google for alleged abuse of the position of chief.
According to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order, “In view of the foregoing analysis, on the whole, the Commission is of the prima facie view that Google has contravened the provisions of section 4 of the Act.”
Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002 deals with abuse of dominant position.
The order came on a complaint filed by the Digital News Publishers Association.
The regulator has directed its investigation wing, the Director General (DG), to conduct an inquiry into the matter and submit the investigation report within 60 days.
The association stated that most of the traffic to news websites comes from online search engines and claimed Google to be the most influential search engine.
It said that more than 50 percent of the total traffic to news websites is routed through Google and being the major player, Google, through its algorithms, determines which news websites get discovered through search.
In addition, Google is a major stakeholder in the digital advertising sector and unilaterally decides the amount to be paid to publishers for the content they create, as well as the terms on which the above amount is to be paid.
It further said that the members of the association have to suffer loss of advertising revenue and inability to deal in fair share in the value chain of news dissemination inspite of creating and working with credible news.
According to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order, “In view of the foregoing analysis, on the whole, the Commission is of the prima facie view that Google has contravened the provisions of section 4 of the Act.”
Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002 deals with abuse of dominant position.
The order came on a complaint filed by the Digital News Publishers Association.
The regulator has directed its investigation wing, the Director General (DG), to conduct an inquiry into the matter and submit the investigation report within 60 days.
The association stated that most of the traffic to news websites comes from online search engines and claimed Google to be the most influential search engine.
It said that more than 50 percent of the total traffic to news websites is routed through Google and being the major player, Google, through its algorithms, determines which news websites get discovered through search.
In addition, Google is a major stakeholder in the digital advertising sector and unilaterally decides the amount to be paid to publishers for the content they create, as well as the terms on which the above amount is to be paid.
It further said that the members of the association have to suffer loss of advertising revenue and inability to deal in fair share in the value chain of news dissemination inspite of creating and working with credible news.
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