EU accuses Google of using search market for own benefit

The EU’s Antitrust Commission finds that Google has “unduly favoured its own comparison shopping service in its general search result pages”

The European Union took its battle with Google to a new stage on Thursday, accusing the technology giant of abusing its dominant position in the online search market to benefit its own comparison shopping and advertising business.

The EU’s executive branch was already investigating whether Google gave preferential treatment to its own products in its Android operating system.

“Google has come up with many innovative products that have made a difference to our lives,” said EU Antitrust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

“But that doesn’t give Google the right to deny other companies the chance to compete and innovate.”

Vestager said the commission’s preliminary probe had revealed that Google had “unduly favoured its own comparison shopping service in its general search result pages.”

This, she added, meant that “consumers may not see the most relevant results to their search queries.”

Separately, Vestager said the Commission had expressed concern that Google was hindering rivals by limiting their ability to place search adverts on third-party websites.

She asked Google and its parent company Alphabet to respond to the findings within 10 weeks.

“But if our investigations conclude that Google has broken EU antitrust rules, the Commission has a duty to act to protect European consumers and fair competition on European markets,” she said.