Google may have changed its organizational structure and established itself under the newly formed Alphabet Inc., but the move hasn't deterred the European Union from actively pursuing the entire organization.
Last year, the EU charged Google due to violations of antitrust laws with allegations that the California-based tech company is using its dominant market share of the Android operating system to promote its own services over those of the competition. Google denied the allegations and sent a 150-page document explaining how the charges filed against it were "wrong" and "unfounded."
Even after the company's explanation, however, the EU is still relentlessly pursuing Google's parent company, Alphabet. Reports suggest that charges will likely be filed in Brussels, Belgium.
"European Union regulators will actively pursue Google parent Alphabet Inc. on multiple fronts ranging from its contracts with advertisers to its Android mobile operating system," said antitrust chief and European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Last month, it was brought to light that India's competition regulator, the Competition Commission of India, accused Google Search of generating biased search results which favored not only its own offerings but also those of companies that pay to advertise on its search engine service.
The United States Federal Telecommunications Commission and the Department of Justice also started looking into similar allegations of Google using Android to put itself ahead of the competition. Google is currently facing investigations by the specified American government agencies.
In addition, Russia just concluded its probe, which began in February 2015. Google was found to be guilty of abusing its dominant market position. The discovery was based on a complaint filed by Yandex, a competing search engine that operates largely in Russia. Yandex claimed that mobile manufacturers were not able to include its products on devices that run on the Android mobile OS. The Russian company created products which were directly competing against Google's.
Furthermore, earlier this month, the Russian government ordered Google to stop its anti-competitive practices on Android, which involves restrictions and fines posed upon bundled third-party apps.
