Google and the ACCC

Posted by Rob Shilkin, Head of Corporate Communications & Public Affairs

You may have read that the ACCC recently filed a lawsuit against Google concerning the text ads that appear under the heading "Sponsored Links" on our results page. As these are now formal proceedings, any legal discussion or comment must be pursued in court - we can't discuss any specifics. Nevertheless, we thought you might be interested in some general comments.

This case raises important issues for all search engines, plus the Australian businesses that use them to connect with customers throughout the world. In our view, the ACCC's claims are without merit. Accordingly, we will be vigorously defending against these claims in court.

We will continue our focus on providing Australian businesses, of all sizes, with an affordable and highly effective advertising platform. Search marketing is a particularly important tool for thousands of small businesses. It is lower cost than other advertising platforms and enables them to precisely target to local and overseas customers.

Search marketing is helping small Australian businesses - often geographically isolated and with limited marketing resources - to leverage the power of the Internet to grow their operations and stand out in competitive markets. At Google Australia, we're excited to be a part of this.

As this case moves forward, we will update you with any important developments.