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Google Facing Fine of Up To $1.4 Billion In India Over Rigged Search Results
An anonymous reader writes: The Competition Commission of India has opened an investigation into Google to decide whether the company unfairly prioritized search results to its own services. Google could face a fine of up to $1.4 billion — 10% of its net income in 2014. A number of other internet companies, including Facebook and FlipKart, responded to queries from the CCI by confirming that Google does this. "The CCI's report accuses Google of displaying its own content and services more prominently in search results than other sources that have higher hit rates. It also states that sponsored links shown in search results are dependent on the amount of advertising funds Google receives from its clients. Ecommerce portal Flipkart noted that it found search results to have a direct correlation with the amount of money it spent on advertising with Google." The company has faced similar antitrust concerns in the EU and the U.S
So a free search engine returned results in an order I don't like. Oh the humanity!
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Isn't this how commerce works?
Company A pays 100 bucks for ads, company B pays 10000 bucks for ads, company B gets results displayed first on similar search terms.
Is this illegal?
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Is going to fine Google for manipulating search results?
India is corrupt and they just want money. They see all other investigations and they want their own chunk of money.
I am assuming that you are young. After you see the cycle repeat over and over, you realize the truth about power and corruption. It isn't a matter of getting the right people in power, it will happen to all of us once we get enough power. it is especially true when you have corporations involved because there is a huge amount of depersonalization that goes on when you are separated from the people you are affecting.
So, yes, Google is becoming corrupt and will continue to become more so over time. It is human/corporate nature.
Are you sure? I personally find Google's services a lot more efficient, faster and more stable than the "Sponsored Links". It would not surprise me that in terms of hits that Google's own products receive considerably more.
I give them another 2 years, tops. Mark this post.
India is its own country. US laws do not apply outside the US.
Only an American would need to be told that.
I mean, has Google ever said it's results are "fair". And of course if you pay for advertising your "sponsored" results should show up more! Seems to me that MS packages Bing, and Cortana, in their OS! Isn't that unfair, too? Apple doesn't allow FaceTime on Android. Isn't that unfair? Canon has chips in their ink cartridges so that you buy from them - is that unfair? Why can't India just go use Bing or something else if they don't like it?
First of all, I'm sure they do. I promote products that my company contributes to the manufacturing of more than other products. Secondly, do they really think that Google gives a shit about their stupid fine?
It also states that sponsored links shown in search results are dependent on the amount of advertising funds Google receives from its clients. Ecommerce portal Flipkart noted that it found search results to have a direct correlation with the amount of money it spent on advertising with Google.
So sponsoring a link with more money gets it shown more frequently? Are they complaining about this?
It sounds like what they should expect---maybe even get in writing---when they give Google money.
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According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
India is known to host click farms. Where people are paid to spend their days liking pages and clicking ads.
And it seems that they found that Google prefers to get paid for ads rather than allowing said click farms to artificially boost search results.
The most ridiculous is this part :
It also states that sponsored links shown in search results are dependent on the amount of advertising funds Google receives from its clients.
Isn't it the whole point of sponsored links, aka ads?
So when I call up my cable/phone provider they need to tell me all about competitors services and theirs fairly? Man this would be awesome for mechanics; "well since you ask, the most relevant mechanic to do this work is our biggest competitor who works about 4 blocks that way, they will charge about half what we are charging and should have it done in about one third of the time".
Come on, what ever happened to critical thinking people? If you get all your information from one source your not getting the full picture. Get your information from multiple sources and keep in mind what biases those sources have, you will make much better decisions when you do that.
Seriously, it would be about time for the governments of the world to understand that google is free to do whatever the hell they want with their products. Don't like it? Don't use it.
Source?
Does India have laws governing how a search engine should operate? And why? Google is a business after all, with a private search algorithm it uses to provide a free service. Advertising its other products, and having a sponsored link algorithm that frankly makes sense considering it has 'sponsored' in the name, is how they make money.
I might understand if Google was funded by tax dollars or something, but Google is just a website run by a business. You can't expect any random business website to not hawk their stuff, why expect it from Google?
The problem is, everyone has their own definition of evil. If you ask Bill Gates, he'll say he did no evil (and has said that hobbyists are immoral). If you ask Steve Ballmer, he'll say he's done no evil, that everything he did was fair and by the rules. Google doesn't feel that spying on people is evil.
I don't know about Larry Ellison, he might take 'evil' as a badge of honor.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Just pay a bribe.
Omg now Slashdot is doing it too! Right at the top of the page there are links to Slashdot and Dice's other pages and services. We should sue them for a hundred quadrillion dollars!
Yeah, that's how web pages work. They have links. A page on a company's site will primarily link to the company's other pages.
IF Bing, Yahoo, etc. didn't exist, and Google was virtually the only way to find web sites, THEN they would have a special position that would justify special laws. Since Bing is the DEFAULT search engine on Windows, Google isn't in a special position where they should be forced to promote Microsoft.
Playing nicely with others is a necessity as a participant in a global market...
So if the US were to accept a large donation to from Google to say they can sort search results however the hell they damn well please, Google could tell India to suck it because they're based in the US? Meanwhile, Dr. Reddy keeps making crappy knockoffs of brand-new drugs made by US companies because India says it's important for the good of their public. There's probably a pretty big Indian market for counterfeit software too, and consumer goods, and electronics...
India should just put this poo in the loo.
A pretty big portion of those new search engines are collecting data from other search engines (in violation of their terms of use), and a big percentage of those are actively transmitting malware in an attempt to hijack accounts on other sites.
wtf are you talking about?
You do need to remind Americans that the rest of the world are a bunch of crooked thieves in the US only politicians and CEO have that title.
Didn't Google get sued and lost once before for the same thing only more deviantly? Didn't they putting paid ads on top that looks just like a normal search result? no notice of Paid ad or anything. Google lost my trust long ago but the competition isn't much better anyways.
Jack of all trades,master of none
Some countries are forcing Google to "rig" its search results, others are complaining about it. Regardless, all Google results are rigged in one way, or another, even at the individual level. For a long time, Altavista had a pure keyword search engine, but that disappeared at some point. I'm not sure who, if anybody, provides neutral results, based solely on keywords, anymore. I feel lucky that there are at least a couple of search engines that claim to not be spying on me.
-- sudon't
Air-ride Equipped
IF they are doing that...
Which they aren't, since there's no money in it for them, getting involved in law suits,
FTA: "Microsoft has made an extensive submission on Google's alleged abuse of power, according to the report, seen by ET". Surprise, surprise ... I don't trust big companies in general, but I trust Microsoft + any country's justice system and even less than I trust Google ...
at 10% of its net income each, we could bankrupt Google in no time at all.
Welcome to yet another level of globalization. The E.U. trying to force its Right to be Forgotten past its borders, Germany trying to enforce its no Holocaust Denial laws beyond its borders, and now India trying to bankrupt Google by applying its local laws to Google's worldwide profits.
Tell you what, I'm only going to fine Google a 1% of their net profits (out of the goodness of my heart) for violating my household rules for search results --- my house, my rules. India on the other hand will be fined 10% of their G.D.P. for its anti-competitive practices according to the Free Trade and Competition laws established by Me, Myself, and I L.L.C.
Fines should ALWAYS be based on GROSS, not NET. Else, it's just lip service.
It also states that sponsored links shown in search results are dependent on the amount of advertising funds Google receives from its clients." Isn't that what the sponsors are paying for?
Every other country gets evaded in terms of taxes. And the country with the lowest tax rate is where all the corporations pay their taxes. It used to be the Carribean Islands, but now its Ireland. Where will the lowest tax haven be next? Since corporations are so dodgy about getting taxed, it is probably just more efficient to slap them with huge fines here and there. No corporation is perfect, so find something you don't like about them you want cleaned up and fine them a billion or two. Wait a few years and repeat.
US laws apply outside the US if the other country signs treaties that say they'll follow those laws.
Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
Maybe it's time for Google to have Terms and Conditions... For Countries. Quote: If you want google to be available within your countries boundaries - based on IP address and nothing else by the way since we aren't going to check anything but this - then you as a sovereign country agree to the following: (1) Google does not support "Right to be forgotten" or any other censorship that you may want. Forget it or forget google. (2) Google does not fiddle with it's search results based on your country preferences. If you don't like the results, seek help with an SEO expert, or google will just not be present in your country / jurisdiction. (3) Google will abide by the terms and conditions that it has published. If you don't like them, then don't use Google or don't have google in your country. (4) We are running the best search engine that we can, based on our own conscience and our business plan. If you don't like these terms and conditions, make your own search engine. Up to you. End Quote: Seems like it's time for this.
spotted the curry nigger
Credible sources http://www.nagaiah.com/