India's Google Investigation Moves Forward
August 31 2015 - 7:40PM
Dow Jones News
SAN FRANCISCO—A lengthy investigation into whether Google has
been abusing its dominance of Internet search to stifle competition
in India is moving into its next phase.
The preliminary findings of the three-year-old probe have been
submitted to the Competition Commission of India and to Google.
The inquiry centered on complaints by several websites that
alleged Google has been unfairly highlighting its own services in
its influential search results at the expense of its rivals.
Google says it is confident it will be cleared of wrongdoing in
India.
The allegations are similar to other accusations of illegal
self-promotion in the U.S., Europe and other parts of the
world.
Google has until Sept. 10 to respond to the preliminary findings
in India, although that deadline could be extended.
The Mountain View, Calif., company is already facing allegations
in Europe that it rigged its shopping results to thwart rivals.
European regulators are still examining whether Google manipulated
other types of search results to keep traffic away from sites that
could diminish its advertising sales.
Google has denied the allegations in Europe. If it loses the
case in Europe, Google could be fined more the $6 billion.
Antitrust regulators in the U.S. wrapped up a probe into
Google's practices in 2013 without requiring that the company make
any major changes to how it ranks websites.
Copyright 2015 the Associated Press
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 31, 2015 19:25 ET (23:25 GMT)
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