Google AdWords lacks transparency: French regulator
June 30, 2010
France's antitrust regulator accused Google Inc of a lack of transparency over its keyword advertising service and ordered it to clarify conditions for the product within four months. The Autorite de la Concurrence was responding on Wednesday to a complaint filed in February by French GPS and smartphone data services company Navx, which alleged the world's top search engine had abused its dominant position by scrapping Navx's AdWords contract. Such contracts push a paying advertiser to the top of Google search results and are at the core of its $23 billion online advertising operations.
Google AdWords lacks transparency: French regulator