ADIF files antitrust complaint against Google in India, alleging anti-competitive practices and self-preferencing in online advertising. New digital competition law proposed.
An Indian start-up lobby group, the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF), has lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against Google. The complaint accuses Google of anti-competitive practices in the online advertising market. ADIF argues that Google’s dominance over major online platforms and its heavy reliance on advertising revenue hinder competition and negatively impact Indian businesses. This move comes amid India’s discussions on a comprehensive digital competition law, which could increase compliance requirements for large tech companies like Google.
“ADIF contends that Google’s control over major online platforms, coupled with the fact that it derives 97 per cent of its revenue from advertising, has led to practices that stifle competition and adversely affect Indian businesses,” the organisation’s statement said. The group criticizes Google’s ad-ranking system, which allows advertisers to bid on keywords, including competitors’ trademarks. ADIF describes this system as a “black-box,” claiming it artificially inflates ad prices.
Additionally, ADIF accuses Google of self-preferencing its services, limiting market access for competitors and impacting start-ups dependent on these platforms. The Privacy Sandbox initiative, aimed at removing third-party cookies from Chrome, is another concern for ADIF, as it could hamper non-Google Demand Side Platforms.
India’s proposed digital competition law, inspired by European regulations, aims to curb anti-competitive practices by tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Amazon. The draft Digital Competition Bill, 2024, seeks to prevent self-preferencing and the misuse of data gathered from one company to benefit another within the same group. The bill includes provisions for preemptive norms to stop anti-competitive practices and imposes heavy penalties for violations. If enacted, this law could require significant changes to the operations of major tech platforms, ensuring a fairer competitive landscape in India.
