The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on January 7 ordered a detailed investigation into Google for its alleged abuse of dominance in the market for news aggregation. The order was prompted by a complaint filed by the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), which argues that Google takes advantage of their members' news content in search results but denies them fair advertising revenue. DNPA counts leading news publications including the India Today, NDTV, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, and The Times of India as its members. "In a well-functioning democracy, the critical role played by news media cannot be undermined, and it needs to be ensured that digital gatekeeper firms do not abuse their dominant position to harm the competitive process of determining a fair distribution of revenue amongst all stakeholders. Therefore, the alleged conduct of Google appears to be an imposition of unfair conditions and price which, prima facie, is a violation of Section 4(2)(a) of the Act." – CCI order Google is already subject to multiple other investigations by CCI concerning others products and services it offers including Play Store, Android TV, and Android OS. What are the relevant markets for this investigation? DNPA delineated the following relevant markets in which it believes Google has a dominant position because of the barriers to entry, lack of competitors, and high-switching costs: The market for online search advertising services in India: CCI accepted this as a relevant market and one in which Google has dominance based on the precedent set in the Google Search Bias case…
