Once the investigation report comes, the CCI will reach out to all the parties, give them a hearing and then adjudicate on the matter.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is set to deliver its findings after a two-year probe into complaints from digital news publishers against Google, claiming they are not getting their fair share of advertisement revenue, two persons informed about the development said.
The report by the CCI's Director General of Investigation will throw light on whether Google, being a major player in internet search and online advertisements, abused its market dominance to disadvantage news publishers who invest heavily in news operations.
It will also lay down the regulatory position on whether Google should pay publishers for the news summary the search engine carries on its search result pages.
News publishers had told the CCI that there has been a surge in ‘zero-click searches’—where the internet user is satisfied with the news summary posted on the search result pages and does not actually click on the news publisher’s website.
This enables Google to display its ads on the search result page but publishers lose out on traffic and revenue.
News publishers said they get revenue only on the traffic they get on their sites and that they did not have access to data about the revenue generated by the search engine.
CCI had ordered a probe into this case in January 2022 on information filed by the Digital News Publishers Association, which was later clubbed with complaints filed by The Indian Newspaper Society and the News Broadcasters & Digital Association.
The complaints named Alphabet Inc., Google LLC, Google India Private Ltd. and Google Ireland Ltd as parties.
More than half the traffic to websites of news organizations come through Google search results, the petitioners told the CCI, according to the regulator’s order initiating the probe. The CCI also made a ‘first impression observation’ that Google occupies a significant position in the market for online digital advertising intermediation services.
Once the investigation report comes, the CCI will reach out to all the parties, give them a hearing and then adjudicate on the matter.
Mint had reported on 11 July that India was considering a new law to ensure fair transactions between Big Tech and news publishers, taking cues from Australia and other nations that want companies such as Google and Meta to pay for using such content on their platforms. In 2021, Australia became the first country in the world to pass legislation to make IT giants pay media organizations for news.
Source: Mint
