FairSearch.org Urges AGs to Tackle Google Over Antitrust

deceptive ads

[walkman]

[pcworld.com...]

"State Attorneys General have a critical role to play in investigating Google's conduct to prevent further harm to competition and consumers, and many of you are already deeply involved," the letter reads.

Specifically, Lynch alleges that Google engages in "deceptive" search results displays that trick users into clicking on links to Google sites by placing those links at the top or in the middle of the results page and making them seem like organic search results.

He also accuses Google of manipulating its search ranking algorithm so that sites from competitors are either excluded or receive poor placement.

Google also engages in "stealing" of content, like user reviews, from third-party websites, and displays that material on Google pages without permission, according to Lynch.

FairSearch.org also maintains that Google treats advertisers unfairly by manipulating their quality scores to inflate ad prices, knowing that the use of its advertising platform is a "must buy" because of the company's dominance in search usage and advertising.

[tangor]

Would like to say "nothing new, move along, nothing to see" but we can't. This examination has been long coming and it will take only a few more like FairSearch to chime in to make that happen. Started with Foundem some years back...

But youse and meese have seen this already over the last five years. The serps suck (on Google... and dang it, looks like Bing is heading that way, too!) and we, the content providers, seeker of visitors, etc. get the ... well you know what I mean.

[diberry]

Between this, the anti-trust hearing and the IRS audit, I'm hopeful that finally the government's going to take a closer look at Google's business practices.