The Competition Commission of India has reportedly launched a new antitrust investigation into Google’s business practices following a complaint that Google allegedly blocked a business’ ads because it competed with one of Google’s own Helpouts business.
Google launched Helpouts last year as a new way for people to make money online, helping people learn how to do things using live online videos.
The business, who complained, according to The Wall Street Journal, is a group of remote technology support service firms owned by Vishal Gupta, who claims to have paid the search giant $310,000 for ads, which were later blocked. Gupta alleges that Google said he had violated its “user safety policy’. R. Jai Krishna reports:
The Journal shares this statement from Google: “We’re always happy to answer questions about our business, and we’re confident that our products are compliant with competition law in India.”
Google was recently fined by the Commission in relation to an antitrust probe launched two years ago, which also stemmed from search advertising-related allegations.
Image via Google India