The European Commission has accused Google of abusing its dominance in
internet searches by "systematically" promoting its own products, while
it announced the opening of an antitrust investigation to include its
Android mobile operating system, Efe news agency reported on Wednesday.
"The
European Commission has sent a statement of objections to Google
alleging the company has abused its dominant position in the markets for
general internet search services in the European Economic Area by
systematically favoring its own comparison shopping product in its
general search results pages," the commission said in a statement.
"The
commission's preliminary view is that such conduct infringes EU
antitrust rules because it stifles competition and harms consumers," the
statement said.
European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe
Vestager said in a press conference that their "preliminary view in the
statement of objections is that in its general internet search results,
Google artificially favors its own comparison-shopping service, and that
this constitutes an abuse."
She clarified that the accusations
did not prejudge the findings of investigations, noting that Google
would be given the opportunity to defend itself to the commission
However,
Vestager warned, "If the investigation confirmed our concerns, Google
would have to face the legal consequences and change the way it does
business in Europe."
Google monopolises online search engines in
the European Economic Area, with market shares above 90 percent in most
countries in the region.
Vestager noted that "dominant companies
have a responsibility not to abuse their powerful market position by
restricting competition either in markets where they're dominant or in
neighbouring markets."
However, she made it clear that the
European Commission did "not wish to interfere with design choices, how
things are presented, or how the algorithm works", but wished that web
users in Europe would be guaranteed to access the most pertinent search
results, not those backed by Google.
The commission launched
investigations in 2010 to determine whether Google's business model
could amount to an abuse of a dominant position by restricting
competition in the field of web searches and online advertising, with
the help of 45 experts working exclusively on the case plus other
technicians from other services.
The company will have 10 weeks
in which to put together a defence, and will be given an audience with
the heads of European Competition Commission, however, if the company
does not comply, a fine of up to 10 percent of Google's turnover could
be incurred -- about 5.65 billion euros ($6 billion) according to its
2014 accounts.
The commission specified that it would continue
its formal investigation into Google on the other counts of suspicions,
such as possible favoritism for other search results, copying content of
competitor websites, and unreasonable restrictions to advertisers.
At
the same time, the European Commission has opened a separate
investigation to determine whether Google promoted anti-competitive
agreements with manufacturers of phones and tablets to exclusively use
its open source operating system Android.
Thomas Vinje, legal
adviser and spokesman of the international FairSearch coalition in
Europe, with members such as Expedia, Nokia, Oracle, and Microsoft
International, applauded the decision and noted that more than 30
companies and consumer organisations have denounced the behaviour of
Google, which "has devastated its opponents".
