SYDNEY - Alphabet Inc’s Google has rejected calls by Australia’s competition regulator for tougher scrutiny of its operations, denying that it enjoys market power in online searches and advertising, documents published on Monday showed.
The global giant was responding to recommendations made late last year by the watchdog, such as increased scrutiny and a new regulatory body to monitor the dominance of tech giants in online advertising and news markets. “Google faces fierce competition from other providers, including vertical search sites like Amazon, Expedia, Domain and Carsales.com, many of which users access directly through mobile apps.”
In preliminary recommendations that are subject to change, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also said the new regulator should have powers to investigate how the companies rank advertisements and news articles.It said the regulator had provided no evidence that regulatory review of Google’s algorithms and potential recommendations for more disclosure about its news ranking would lead to higher quality search results.
Google needs to get it's plug pulled. The searches are NOT even based on quality - the higher rank goes to pages google can make more money on. That is actually dangerous with doctors and medical advice.
Google that denies market power is a bit like a fish that denies knowing how to swim ...
Australian regulators are a bunch of WIMPs
Then get out of Australia ?