The European Commission has slapped Google with yet another formal legal complaint over the internet company's dominance of the search engine market. The new filings represent the third round of antitrust complaints.
"Google has come up with many innovative products that have made a difference to our lives," says Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition commissioner. "But that doesn't give Google the right to deny other companies the chance to compete and innovate."
Stifling Competition, Harming Consumers
Vestager issued the two "Statements of Objection" pertaining to Google's alleged abuse of its 80 percent market dominance "by systematically favoring its comparison shopping service in its search result pages."
In April 2015, Vestager clarified the commission's preliminary view that Google's conduct "stifles competition and harms consumers." The statements this week reinforce this stance against the company's tactic of "artificially restricting the possibility" of third-party websites to show ads from Google's rivals.
The commission also takes a jab at Google's AdSense for Search, a partnership that lets the company place its Google-branded search bar on other websites.
Google's Comparison Shopping Services
European regulators believe that search engine users — who rely on Google to give them an extensive range of answers to their queries — might not receive the most relevant results if the search engine deploys such anticompetitive practices.
Google has argued, however, that its comparison shopping services are not an isolated suite of services. The company works together with other merchant platforms, such as eBay and Amazon, to give consumers an array of options.
Even then, the EC says, Google's services present an unfair advantage by "weakening or even marginalizing competition from its closest rivals."
Google's AdSense On Third-Party Websites
Apart from the EC's scrutiny of Google's comparison shopping services, the antitrust regulators are also looking into Google's partnership with third-party websites and these websites' ability to pull up search ads from Google's competitors.
The platform AdSense for Search allows Google to place promotional content on third-party websites, such as online retailers, newspapers and telecoms operators.
But the websites also carry a Google search bar where site visitors can search for info. If this search bar is used for a query, Google will yield search ads along with the answers. And if the site visitor clicks on the search ad, the commission notes, "both Google and the third party receive a commission."
If Google is found guilty of anticompetitive practices, it could face a hefty fine (for each case) of up to 10 percent of its global turnover. The internet company has eight weeks to respond to the charge against its comparison shopping services and 10 weeks for the one on AdSense.
"We believe that our innovations and product improvements have increased choice for European consumers and promote competition," Google says. "We'll examine the commission’s renewed cases and provide a detailed response in the coming weeks."
