Google news management in India under scrutiny

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The Google logo is pictured at the entrance to the Google offices in London on January 18, 2019. [Photo/Agencies]

The Indian Antitrust Authority has ordered an investigation into Google News’ revenue sharing practices and the issues examined reflect legitimate concerns, experts say.

The recent action against Google by Asia’s third largest economy comes as no surprise because India has a tradition of placing excessive limits on foreign companies to protect its domestic industries, said Professor Chen Jixiang, Deputy Director of the Center for Indian. Studies at the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences.

The investigation into Alphabet Inc’s news aggregator service was ordered by the Competition Commission of India. It is based on a complaint filed by the Digital News Publishers Association, that Google unilaterally decides the amount it needs to pay news publishers and the terms for it.

The Hindustan Times quoted Sujata Gupta, secretary general of the association, which understands the digital weapons of major Indian media companies, saying that it is very grateful to the commission for addressing the issue “and we are confident that justice will be done”.

Newspaper publishers in several countries, including Australia and France, have raised the issue of fair payment for content with Google, putting pressure on the company on its revenue sharing practices.

“Google is using its domain to protect its position in the news aggregation services market,” the commission said in a 21-page report on the matter. “News publishers seem to depend on Google for most of their traffic.”

Google does not share data on its advertising revenue on news websites and shares a small portion of its advertising revenue arbitrarily, the commission said.

‘Dynamic balance’

Wang Peng, a researcher at Zhejiang International Studies University’s Center for American Studies, said India has already initiated antitrust investigations against Google. “The probe could last for a while and it’s difficult to predict the outcome.”

Many large multinational companies use their dominance in various markets to make excess profits, he said, adding that local government agencies need to take action in relation to such practices. Actions by regulators aim to ensure that “the market is in dynamic equilibrium,” he said.

The regulator’s latest order for a Google investigation is the fifth such action against Google’s practices in India.

India previously ordered an antitrust investigation into the products, services and policies of the Google Play Store, the Android operating system and Android TV. In 2018, the commission fined Google nearly Rs 1.36 billion ($ 18.3 million) for abusing its dominant market position in internet search services.

In a letter written to Google a year ago, L. Adimoolam, president of the group, said newspaper publishers face a very “opaque” advertising system, with no access to Google’s advertising value chain.

In his letter, Adimoolam said Google should pay newspaper publishers for news generated through “quality journalism”.

Xinhua contributed to the story.

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