SYDNEY, Australia (AP) – Australia’s consumer watchdog has launched legal action against Google for allegedly misleading users by blurring the distinction between paid and unpaid search results in favor of one of its advertisers.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission filed suit against the search engine giant and one of its main advertisers, the Trading Post, in Federal Court on Thursday, alleging they “engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct” in breach of trade practices laws.
The commission claims the Trading Post submitted as keywords the names of two local car dealerships that were direct competitors to the Trading Post’s online classified ads. As a result, users who typed in the business names “Kloster Ford” and “Charlestown Toyota” were directed first to the Trading Post’s Web site, giving the false impression that the companies were somehow related.
The consumer watchdog named Google, Google Ireland and Google Australia Pty. as defendants in the action, along with the Trading Post magazine.
It is seeking declarations from the defendants that they breached trade practices laws, legal costs and an injunction preventing Google from publishing results that represented an “association, sponsorship or affiliation where one does not exist.”
Google Australia described the case as an assault on all search engines.