India’s antitrust watchdog imposed a Rs 136 Crore fine on Google for “search bias” and abuse of its dominant position, in the latest regulatory setback for the world’s most popular internet search engine. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) said Google, the core unit of US firm Alphabet Inc, was abusing its dominance in online web search and online search advertising markets. [Source: NDTV]
According to research from the World Federation of Advertisers, 87% of major multinational companies plan to boost their investment in mobile advertising and 68% plan to boost video spend, while 77% will spend more on new programmatic channels such as “advanced TV” and digital out-of-home. [Source: Campaign]
WhatsApp has reportedly started testing out its UPI-based payments feature in India. The new feature, available for select WhatsApp beta users on iOS and Android, enables users to send and receive money using the Indian government’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) standard. [Source: NDTV Gadgets 360]
Google is bringing gadget maker Nest back under its control as the search giant battles rivals Amazon and Apple in the rapidly expanding smart home market. A big part of the change: Making it easier to add Google’s artificial intelligence technology and Assistant into new Nest products. [Source: CNET]
July is shaping up to be a big month for Google. Earlier this month, the company announced its Speed Update set to roll out in July, and now has announced that it will also mark all sites that have not migrated to HTTPS as “not secure.” [Source: Search Engine Land]
Instagram, owned by Facebook, recently announced an upcoming new addition to its Stories segment. This will further expand the efficacy of ads which started being shown last year on this hugely popular format. [Source: Logicserve Digital]
LinkedIn plans to begin regularly updating its Sales Navigator platform every quarter, starting with a suite of improvements rolling out in the first quarter of 2018. In a recent announcement, the company mentioned that it will look to make the sales management tool more efficient through redesigned account pages, improved search and email alerts. [Source: MARTECH TODAY]
To create awareness around Internet safety, Google India on Monday launched a public initiative “#SecurityCheckKiya” to protect young and first-time web users from account hijacking, safeguard Android devices from malicious apps and secure all their personal data if they lose their device. [Source: The Economic Times]
After launching goal tracking in the platform last year, AdWords Express, the simplified ad platform designed for small business, is adding support around calls to a business with two types of call notifications. [Source: Search Engine Land]
Even in the face of concerns from marketers (e.g. their grouse on users not visiting the site because of availability of answer on the results page itself, thereby decreasing traffic), the company is now trying to educate users on the rationale behind featured snippets. [Source: Logicserve Digital]
