Digital competition law may hit how you Google
Moving from search results page to maps, reaching specific sites may turn harder
NEW DELHI: Soon, you may not be able to hop from Google search results to a hotel’s website to make a reservation, or even to Google Maps once you find the place you are looking for.
Allowing users to head straight to Google Maps or a hotel’s website from the results page goes against the tenets of the draft Digital Competition Bill, say industry executives and experts.
The draft bill, which seeks to prevent anti-competitive behaviour, proposes prohibiting the intermixing and cross-use of personal or business user data across different products or services without user consent.
Google and other search engines might also have to stop surfacing sponsored links to products and services in search results, as the bill proposes prohibiting what’s called ‘self-preferencing’.
This is broadly defined as giving preference to a digital platform’s own products or service, to those of related parties, or to third parties with whom it has an arrangement, an industry executive said on the condition of anonymity.
“The idea of the digital competition law is to ensure competitiveness in digital markets, which will ultimately benefit users and consumers. However, many of the big tech companies and Indian digital entities are concerned that in the pursuit of ensuring competitiveness in the market, the law should not lose sight of the end goal, i.e., better products and services,” said Pranjal Prateek, partner at law firm Khaitan & Co.
“Some of the widely worded prohibitions under the draft bill could potentially diminish user experience and product usefulness.” Google, and the ministry of corporate affairs, which introduced the draft bill in March, did not reply to emails sent on Wednesday.
Users unwilling to allow Google to use their personal or business data might find their experience on the tech giant’s platforms highly diminished, said one of the industry experts mentioned earlier.
Finding an address on Google Search and hopping to the location on Google Maps could involve multiple steps if the proposed legislation takes effect in its current form. A user would have to copy the address from the results page and paste it on Google Maps for the route, explained a technology expert.
The proposed Digital Competition Bill has good intentions and seeks to protect competition in the market, preventing network effects and entry barriers that reinforce the incumbent player.
Network effect allows a product or service—a search engine, an e-commerce platform, or a digital navigation tool—to gradually become more accurate and predictable as more users engage with it, attracting even more users to it. This, however, could potentially shift the market dynamics in its favour.
Industry experts worry about potential unintended consequences of the Digital Competition Bill, which could hinder efficiency, innovation, and user experience.