India: Google says antitrust ruling could cause ‘irreparable” harm’

Alphabet’s Google has said an Indian antitrust ruling that found it was guilty of search bias could cause“irreparable” harm and reputational loss to the company, according to a legal document reviewed by Reuters.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) fined Google $20 million for abusing its position in online web search and also slammed the company for preventing its partners from using competing search services. After the ruling, Google had said the verdict raised only “narrow concerns”, but in its plea challenging the CCI’s ruling the search giant signaled the impact could be far greater.

The order, the company said, “requires Google to change the way it conducts business in India on a lasting basis and the way it designs its search results page in India”, according to a copy of its plea which was seen exclusively by Reuters.

The CCI, among other things, had ordered Google to stop imposing restrictions on its direct search agreements with other publishers.

Allowing the CCI’s findings to be implemented “without appellate scrutiny would cause Google irreparable reputational loss”, the company said, while seeking a stay on the ruling.

Full Content: Reuters

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