India’s Competition Commission (CCI) today fined Google $1.36 billion rupees (roughly $21.1 million) for “abuse of its dominant position” in search. The specific finding made by CCI (in a 4 to 2 decision) surrounded Google’s treatment of flight search results.
CCI said that Google “allocated disproportionate real estate” to the box of sponsored flight results at the top of the page, which the Committee said disadvantaged “verticals trying to gain market access”:
The penalty is the culmination of a long process of review, triggered in 2012 by an initial complaint from Matrimony.com and public interest advocate Consumer Unity & Trust Society.
The OneBox itself was not found to violate India’s competition rules, according to CCI (press release). Other search and related issues were considered by CCI, including AdWords practices and distribution agreements. Those were also not found to be in contravention of Indian law.
The fine itself was based on 5 percent of Google India revenues between 2013 and 2015. European antitrust rules, by comparison, now permit regulators to impose fines based on a percentage of global revenues.
The complete (and lengthy) CCI decision is available here (.pdf).
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