NEW DELHI (CNA) – India’s competition watchdog on Friday ordered an investigation into Alphabet Inc’s Google following allegations from news publishers, saying its initial view was that the tech giant had broken some anti-trust laws.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) said Google dominates certain online search services in the country and may have imposed unfair conditions on news publishers.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The complainant, Digital News Publishers Association, which comprises the digital arms of some of India’s biggest media companies, said Google denied fair advertising revenue to its members. “In a well-functioning democracy, the critical role played by news media cannot be undermined,” the CCI order said.
“It appears that Google is using its dominant position in the relevant markets to enter/protect its position in the market for news aggregation service.”
