IAC/InterActive Corp, the American holding company with well-known media and internet brands across 100 companies, had a number of its Chrome browser extensions removed by Google on Sunday for violating policies.
In a statement to Reuters, Google explained, “We continue to have conversations with IAC related to Chrome Web Store policies and we have already removed a number of their extensions for violating our policies … We’re reviewing the remaining extensions and our enforcement options, and have not made a decision regarding IAC’s status on the store.”
As Engadget reports, it was The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal that first learned Google was considering “severe penalties” against IAC due to a number of deceptive practices being used by the company as discovered by the Chrome trust and safety team. It’s unclear what specific policies IAC violated, but one example of an infringement saw IAC’s voting ads installing the Ask.com toolbar and changing a user’s default home page.
An IAC spokeswoman responded to the browser extension removals, saying, “Google has taken hundreds of millions of dollars from us to advertise and distribute these products in the Chrome Store … There’s nothing new here – Google has used their position to reduce our browser business to the last small corner of the internet, which they’re now seeking to quash.”
It’s thought Google is considering its options in terms of penalties because both companies are actually rivals in some areas where policy violations have occurred. Therefore, any penalties doled out run the risk of being viewed as anti-competitive behavior.
