Japan’s antitrust watchdog has ordered Google to fix its advertising search restrictions that are affecting Yahoo in Japan. The Japan Fair Trade Commission stated that Google’s practices were undermining fair competition in the advertising market.
Google responded by saying they have cooperated fully with the commission’s probe and emphasized that the commission did not find any outright violations of anti-monopoly laws. They promised to implement the commission’s directives to provide “valuable” search functions to Japanese users and advertisers.
The commission found that the questionable practices by Google began about a decade ago and continued for more than seven years. Google will be under review for the next three years to ensure the necessary changes are made. Despite the findings, there are no immediate fines or penalties for Google.
This decision comes on the heels of another setback for Google in Japan, as Japanese doctors recently filed a civil lawsuit against the company. The lawsuit demands damages for what the doctors claim are groundless derogatory and false comments on Google Maps.
Google stated that they are working around the clock to reduce misleading or false information on their platform and are using human and technological resources to delete fraudulent reviews.
