Google misleads on sponsored links, Australian court told

Google was accused Monday of misleading web users and misidentifying sponsored links in a court case brought by Australia’s consumer watchdog. In what it says is a world-first action, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleges Google failed to distinguish between paid advertisements and “organic” results generated by the search engine. ACCC barrister Christine Adamson told the Federal Court that Google was misleading people who thought the ranking of its search results was not influenced by payments from advertisers.