India’s anti-trust regulator fines Google for ‘search bias’

NEW DELHI – India’s antitrust watchdog says Google abused its position as the dominant search engine in the country to create a search bias in favour of its own services and those of its partners.

The Competition Commission of India said in a statement Thursday that it was imposing a fine of 1.36 billion rupees ($21 million) on Google along with a warning to desist from unfair practices.

The regulator has been investigating Google since 2012 when a website called Matrimony.com and the Consumer Unity &Trust Society complained about Google’s practices.

According to the complaints, Google manipulated search results to promote its own and partner services.