India: Another probe ordered on Google

Two years since the Competition Commission of India first launched an investigation into Google, the regulator ordered yet another probe into the US Internet search conglomerate Tuesday, according to reports.

Google’s advertisement service AdWords has been under the CCI’s radar since 2012, but time a new investigation has been launched following a complaint filed over allegations Google blocked a company’s advertisements from appearing in search results because the company was a competitor of a Google business.

Reports say the complaint was filed by Vishal Gupta, who owns a tech support company. In his complaint the business owner says he paid $310,000 for the advertisements, which were subsequently blocked by Google under the search giant’s “user safety policy.”

That policy is vague and aids Google to abuse its market dominance, the filing said. Gupta suggests Google blocked ads for his tech support service because his company competes with Google Helpouts, a similar operation owned by Google.

Full content: Wall Street Journal

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