EU Commission launches antitrust investigation into Google searches

EU Commission launches antitrust investigation into Google searches

2010-11-30 18:32:34 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- The European Commission on Tuesday decided to open an antitrust investigation into allegations that Google violated EU rules by abusing the company's dominant position in online search.

Although the probe does not mean that the EU has proof of any infringements, the Commission said it will conduct an in-depth investigation of the case as a matter of priority.

The Commission said several search service providers have complained about unfavorable treatment of their services in Google's unpaid and sponsored search results coupled with an alleged preferential placement of Google's own services.

The Commission said it will investigate whether Google has abused its dominant market position in online search by allegedly lowering the ranking of unpaid search results of competing services which are specialized in providing users with specific online content such as price comparisons and by according preferential placement to the results of its own vertical search services in order to shut out competing services.

Google.com provides two types of displaying results when people search for information. The first are unpaid search results, while third party advertisements are shown at the top and at the right hand of Google's search results page.

"The Commission will also look into allegations that Google lowered the 'Quality Score' for sponsored links of competing vertical search services," it said in a statement. "The Quality Score is one of the factors that determine the price paid to Google by advertisers."

Additionally, the Commission's investigation will additionally focus on allegations that Google imposes exclusivity obligations on advertising partners, preventing them from placing certain types of competing ads on their web sites, as well as on computer and software vendors, with the aim of shutting out competing search tools. Finally, it will investigate suspected restrictions on the portability of online advertising campaign data to competing online advertising platforms.

The EU said it informed Google and also competition authorities of EU member states before the probe was announced. "There is no legal deadline to complete inquiries into anticompetitive conduct," it said, adding that the duration depends on a number of factors.

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