The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) is going to force Yandex to abandon the practice of using “sorcerers” in the fight against competitors, according to a statement on the agency’s website.
This is the policy of the company’s search service. In its search results, it regularly sets priority for other Yandex services, giving them preference over competitors.
Among such services are Yandex.Vertical (includes Auto.ru, Yandex.Realty and Yandex.Rabot), Yandex.Market, Yandex.Mediaservices, and Kinopoisk. All of them are displayed in the search results in the form of interactive widgets located between advertising slots and organic search results. Such widgets are often referred to as “sorcerers”.
The FAS considered this practice to be a violation of the antimonopoly law and ordered Yandex to stop it. In addition, the company must disclose its own algorithms for promoting links and attracting users’ attention.
The requirements of the government agency must be fulfilled within the next month, during which Yandex must regularly inform the FAS about the progress in fulfilling the instructions. Otherwise, a case may be initiated against him.