Competition Commission of India (CCI): Competition watchdog ordered to close a case filed against Facebook, Google and some online portals (“opposite parties”) for alleged abuse of dominant position and anti-competitive conducts. The informant in this case was aggrieved by complaints filed on online electronic public fora by persons with whom the informant has ongoing disputes. Informant alleged that these persons had also published defamatory material against the Informant on online platforms such as Google and Facebook. The Informant has also claimed that because of the wide outreach of these websites publication of false/ defamatory statements/ adverse remarks have tarnished its reputation and it has suffered reputational and monetary damage. Informant contended that Facebook and Google enjoy dominant position on the internet as the information contained in these websites can be viewed worldwide and hence they have violated the provisions of section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002.
The CCI observed that the Informant failed to make out a case against Facebook and Google for abuse of dominance under the provisions of section 4 of the Act. CCI closed the case with the view that the general averments made by the Informant against the opposite parties including publication of defamatory materials on certain websites allegedly maligning the Informant’s reputation, do not raise any competition concern. [In Re: Taj Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Facebook , [2015] CCI 158, decided on 07.10.2015]
