Google workers ride bikes outside of Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. , Thursday, April 12, 2012. - AP Photo

NEW DELHI: The Competition Commission of India said Monday it had launched an anti-trust probe into Google's online advertising practices, deepening the Internet giant's legal woes in the country.

S.L. Bunker, the secretary of the commission, told AFP that the probe was in response to a complaint from online match-making website Bharatmatrimony.com.

“We are investigating Google,” he said, adding that the website “has filed information which is being investigated to see if it can be verified.”In February the Economic Times reported that Bharatmatrimony.com had complained that Google had “abused its dominance by engaging in discriminatory and retaliatory practices relating to AdWords”.

“We have requested the Commission to investigate Google's practices and impose remedial measures to protect competition,” a statement from the company said.

AdWords, Google's advertising mainstay, sells keywords to companies which appear in the site's search engine, allowing them to promote their product online. The giant pulled in $36.5 billion of ad revenue worldwide in 2011.

Sources at Bharatmatrimony.com told the Economic Times that the company had filed the complaint over Adwords' sale of keywords relating to Bharatmatrimony.com to its matchmaking rivals such as Shaadi.com.

A Google spokesperson told AFP the company had “not received any communication” on the matter and declined further comment.

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...