News agencies after receiving the complaint, the Competition Commission of India on Friday launched an investigation against Google Command, said the early assessment shows that Google violated antitrust laws and regulations. The Competition Commission of India said in its order that Google, which dominates parts of India’s search services, may not be treating news organizations fairly. Google declined to comment.
The Association of Digital News Organizations, which represents the digital business units of some of India’s largest news organizations, said Google refused to pay its members fair and equitable advertising revenue. In well-governed countries, the vital role of news organizations cannot be undermined. Google uses its dominant position in the relevant market to protect its position in the news aggregation service market, the Indian Competition Commission’s order said.
News organizations have complained for years that tech companies are “pooring” their content as ad revenue is eaten away by online news aggregators like Google. In its order, the Competition Commission of India also cited new laws and regulations passed in France and Australia that have prompted tech companies to strike multi-billion-dollar content licensing deals with news organizations.