Japan's antitrust watchdog has instructed Google to address its advertising search limitations impacting Yahoo in Japan, following an investigation that revealed Google's practices undermine fair competition.

Japan's antitrust watchdog has issued a directive to Google, urging the tech giant to address its advertising search limitations that impact Yahoo in Japan, per KSN News.

The Japan Fair Trade Commission underlined Google's practices as detrimental to fair competition in the advertising market after a recent investigation. The issue stems from alleged restrictions imposed by Google in its search advertising agreement with Yahoo Japan, hindering its competitiveness in targeted search ads for over seven years. 

The implication is that Google's behavior may have unfairly limited Yahoo Japan's ability to compete in the market for targeted search advertisements, potentially harming consumer choice and market competition.

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Google's Response to Japanese Regulators

Although Google has vowed to comply with the commission's directives and improve search functions for Japanese users and advertisers, Line Yahoo declined to comment on the matter. 

This won't be the first time Google caught legal action from Japan, according to Nikkei Asia. The commission's decision comes amid a civil lawsuit filed by Japanese doctors against Google. In the lawsuit, doctors alleged that Google allowed derogatory and false comments to be posted on Google Maps, causing reputational harm to the doctors. 

The doctors are seeking damages totaling 1.4 million yen ($9,400) for 63 medical professionals affected by these reviews. 

In response, Google stated that it is actively working to combat misleading or false information on its platform by employing both human moderation and technological solutions to remove fraudulent reviews.

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