CCI Orders Fresh Probe Into Google AdWords

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered a fresh investigation against search engine giant Google for allegedly abusing its position in the online search advertising space. The commission is already probing the company’s alleged ‘anti-competitive business practices.’

The order was passed following a complaint by Vishal Gupta against Google Inc, Google Ireland Ltd and Google India Pvt Ltd, alleging that Google AdWords accounts are ‘opaque and not transparent.’

The CCI has also asked its director general to look into the role of persons (if any) who were in charge and were accountable to the firms for their businesses.

In its order, the commission said, "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 investigation also needs to determine if Google could have taken less damaging courses of action, such as filtering out fraudulent firms and maintaining contracts with firms that have been operating genuinely for long periods of time," the CCI added.
The AdWords programme, under which Google sells keywords to advertisers and displays those as online ads, ensures high earnings for the company.

The complainant alleged that several remote tech support companies, including his firm, had been suspended from the AdWords programme to promote Google's activities in an “unfair, discriminatory and uncompetitive manner.”

According to the complaint, Google had a vague and unclear 'user safety policy,' leading to abuse of its dominance. By abusing its dominant position to limit the number of remote tech support companies, “Google had caused prejudice to consumers,” it alleged.

Gupta, his family and associates own Shyam Garment Group of Companies, which includes Shyam Garment Pvt Ltd (SGL) and Delhi Call Centre Pvt Ltd.

The CCI is already probing allegations that Google has abused its dominant position in the Internet search space. Regarding this case, the commission has recently imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on Google for failing to provide information pertaining to the investigation.