NBDA VS GOOGLE

Source:Indian Express

1.CONTEXT

The News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) approached the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against search-engine operator Google, alleging that the latter had deprived them of their justifiable revenue acquired from news dissemination on the tech giant's platforms.

2.DOMINANT GOOGLE

• Google’s search engine commands a 94% market share in the country. The number becomes all the more crucial for news publishers with the increased transition toward news consumption online (inclusive of app-based consumption)
• With online proliferation, there is an increased reliance of news publishers on digital ad revenues, and in turn, tech-based companies.
•  More than half of the total traffic on news websites is routed through Google. The search engine, by way of its algorithms and internal quality vetting, determines which news websites would be prioritized in search queries.
• Search engines are an important determinant in online news consumption. Readers would more often opt for an online web search rather than reaching out to a specific news website by typing its URL into a browser. This has made search engines the first port of call for information online.

3.ALLEGATIONS AGAINST GOOGLE

• Google is dominant in both - online web search services and digital advertising services.
• A news website sells advertising spaces on its platform through ad exchanges. In addition to this, Google also operates a platform that manages a publisher's sale of online ads and tools to purchase display ad space
• The central contestation among the parties holds that the tech giant has not compensated news publishers for their contribution to (Google's various) platforms and has engaged in practices to bolster its monopoly in the space.
•  The DNPA had put forth that website publishers receive only 51% of the advertisement revenue. It has been alleged that owing to the tech giant's dominance in the space, publishers have been "forced" to integrate content on their platforms. They have no other alternative but to trade in the company's exchanges and use its buying tool

 4.ALLEGATIONS OUTSIDE INDIA

• The European Publishers Council filed an anti-trust complaint against Google with the European Commission, challenging its existing “ad tech stranglehold” over press publishers.
•  Australia introduced the ‘Media Bargaining Code’ in February to address the imbalance. The code requires news outlets to negotiate commercial deals individually or collectively with Facebook and Google with violations calling for civil penalties of up to $10 million.
• The tech firms would also have to give media outlets notice when they change search algorithms that may affect the publisher's content

5.GOOGLE CONTENTION

According to Google, the revenues accrued are spent towards running a complex and evolving business such as maintaining data centres, further technological investments, enabling innovations that increase publisher revenue, and maximizing advertiser return on investment.

6.ABOUT COMPETITION COMMISSION OF INDIA

 It is the chief national competition regulator in India, it is a statutory body within the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and is responsible for enforcing the competition act 2002, to promote competition and prevent activities that have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India. The CCI looks into cases and investigates them if the same harm the competition. The commission was established on 14 October 2003