Google found guilty of 'false, misleading advertising' in Australia

Sydney, Apr 3 (ANI): Google has suffered a major blow after an Australian consumer watchdog won its appeal against the search giant over a case of false and misleading advertising.

A Sydney court ruled on appeal that the search giant had failed to adequately distinguish advertisements from search results and had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had presented examples of search results being redirected to websites, which had no affiliation with the initial search in September 2011 with the court dismissing the claim.

The court, however, overturned the earlier decision, saying Google had "engaged in conduct that was misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead," news.com.au reports.

According to the report, the court said that ads using keywords for Honda, Harvey World Travel, Alpha Dog Training and Just 4X4 Magazine were published by Google and led consumers to rival company websites.

Google has also been asked to pay the ACCC's court costs.

Google said it was disappointed by the decision.

"We are disappointed by the Federal Court's decision that Google should be responsible for the content of four particular ads on its platform," the report quoted a Google spokesman, as saying.

"We are currently reviewing our options in light of the court's decision," he added. (ANI)