Tag: cci

Google Faces Another Probe by CCI After Allegations of Unfair Revenue Sharing Terms

The Competition Commission of India has ordered another detailed probe against Google for alleged unfair revenue sharing terms with respect to news content.

The case will be clubbed with two other ongoing matters against the search engine major where the allegations are substantially same, according to the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

The latest order has come on a complaint filed by the News Broadcasters & Digital Association.

In January this year, CCI ordered a probe against Google on the complaint filed by the Digital News Publishers Association. Later, the Indian Newspaper Society also filed a similar case and that was clubbed with the first one.

Now, the regulator’s probe arm Director General (DG) will submit a consolidated investigation report, the watchdog said in an order released on Friday.

The News Broadcasters & Digital Association had alleged that its members are forced to provide their news content to Google in order to prioritise their weblinks in the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) of Google. As a result, Google free rides on the content of the members without giving them adequate compensation, as per the complaint.

Among others, it was alleged that Google exploited the dependency of the members on the search engine offered by Google for referral-traffic to build services such as Google News, Google Discover and Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).

The search engine major provides news content to user through Google Search and through news aggregator vertical, Google News.

According to the complaint, in Google Search, users can either search directly for news through News Tab or receive news through result in SERPs. Google incorporated news content in its SERPs through featured snippets including ‘Top Stories’ carousels.

However, the revenue distributed by Google to news publishers doesn’t compensate for the real contribution made by the association’s members to these platforms, it added.

In a four-page order, dated October 6 and released on Friday, CCI said the allegations are substantially the same as that of the matter which is already being probed by the regulator.

CCI has directed the DG to club the matters and submit a consolidated investigation report.

Cases where there is prima-facie evidence of violation of competition norms are referred by CCI to its investigation arm DG for a detailed probe.

The complaint has been filed against Alphabet, Google, Google India, Google Ireland and Google Asia Pacific.

The association consists of national and regional private news and current affairs broadcasters and digital news media entities as its members.

Buying an affordable 5G smartphone today usually means you will end up paying a “5G tax”. What does that mean for those looking to get access to 5G networks as soon as they launch? Find out on this week’s episode. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Google Faces Another Probe as CCI Alleges Unfair Revenue Sharing Terms

The Competition Commission of India has ordered another detailed probe against Google for alleged unfair revenue sharing terms with respect to news content.

The case will be clubbed with two other ongoing matters against the search engine major where the allegations are substantially same, according to the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

The latest order has come on a complaint filed by the News Broadcasters & Digital Association.

In January this year, CCI ordered a probe against Google on the complaint filed by the Digital News Publishers Association. Later, the Indian Newspaper Society also filed a similar case and that was clubbed with the first one.

Now, the regulator’s probe arm Director General (DG) will submit a consolidated investigation report, the watchdog said in an order released on Friday.

The News Broadcasters & Digital Association had alleged that its members are forced to provide their news content to Google in order to prioritise their weblinks in the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) of Google. As a result, Google free rides on the content of the members without giving them adequate compensation, as per the complaint.

Among others, it was alleged that Google exploited the dependency of the members on the search engine offered by Google for referral-traffic to build services such as Google News, Google Discover and Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).

The search engine major provides news content to user through Google Search and through news aggregator vertical, Google News.

According to the complaint, in Google Search, users can either search directly for news through News Tab or receive news through result in SERPs. Google incorporated news content in its SERPs through featured snippets including ‘Top Stories’ carousels.

However, the revenue distributed by Google to news publishers doesn’t compensate for the real contribution made by the association’s members to these platforms, it added.

In a four-page order, dated October 6 and released on Friday, CCI said the allegations are substantially the same as that of the matter which is already being probed by the regulator.

CCI has directed the DG to club the matters and submit a consolidated investigation report.

Cases where there is prima-facie evidence of violation of competition norms are referred by CCI to its investigation arm DG for a detailed probe.

The complaint has been filed against Alphabet, Google, Google India, Google Ireland and Google Asia Pacific.

The association consists of national and regional private news and current affairs broadcasters and digital news media entities as its members.

Buying an affordable 5G smartphone today usually means you will end up paying a “5G tax”. What does that mean for those looking to get access to 5G networks as soon as they launch? Find out on this week’s episode. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

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Government Proposes Competition Law Amendment; Seeks to Tighten Rules on Antitrust Scrutiny

The government aims to tighten rules around the scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions under proposed legislation that could particularly affect global tech firms that do a lot of business in India. The proposal is part of an overhaul of the country’s competition law in a bill that was introduced in parliament on Friday and could be passed as soon as next week.

Under current law, the Competition Commission of India, or CCI, reviews mergers and acquisitions that surpass thresholds for assets or turnover.

But many high-value deals between technology firms that have a big presence in the country have escaped scrutiny because the companies involved have had few assets and low turnover there.

Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion (roughly Rs. 1,50,900 crore), for example, required no CCI clearance, even as WhatsApp counted India as a major market, lawyers say.

The draft law proposes all deals worth over Rs. 2,000 crore should be subject to antitrust scrutiny if the companies have substantial business operations in the country.

“The hotly debated deal value test seeks to attract scrutiny of transactions where parties do not meet the conventional asset and turnover thresholds particularly in the tech space,” said Anisha Chand, a partner specializing in antitrust law at law firm Khaitan & Co.

“If passed in the present form, the incoming amendment may likely result in a jump in (the) number of transactions particularly in new age markets to require prior clearance,” she added.

The deal value threshold for scrutiny is in line with antitrust regulations in Germany and Austria, public policy consulting firm Koan Advisory said in a note on Friday.

The CCI did not respond to a request for comment.

New regulations from the CCI will lay out the process to determine whether an entity has “substantial business operations” in the country, according to the bill, which is dated Aug. 2.

As part of the revamp of competition law, the government also proposes reducing the time limit for approving mergers to 150 days from 210 days.

In addition, it plans to introduce a mechanism for entities seeking to reach a settlement with the CCI, the bill says.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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