Google officially Accused by European Union

EU Commission sends Statement of Objections to Google on comparison shopping service and also opens separate formal investigation on Android.

As already leaked late yesterday, 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 (EEA) by systematically favoring its own comparison shopping product in its general search results pages.

The Commission’s preliminary view is that such conduct infringes EU antitrust rules because it stifles competition and harms consumers. Sending a Statement of Objections does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.

The Commission has also formally opened a separate antitrust investigation into Google’s conduct as regards the mobile operating system Android. The investigation will focus on whether Google has entered into anti-competitive agreements or abused a possible dominant position in the field of operating systems, applications and services for smart mobile devices.

EU Commissioner in charge of competition policy Margrethe Vestager said: “The Commission’s objective is to apply EU antitrust rules to ensure that companies operating in Europe, wherever they /4/be based, do not artificially deny European consumers as wide a choice as possible or stifle innovation”.

The EU has now published the detailed Statement of Objections to Google on comparison shopping service and the details about the investigation into Android can be found here.

Google has released a lengthy reply titled: “The Search For Harm.” Google makes the case that handling answers right on search pages has not harmed anyone and traffic of shopping comparison sites is far larger than to Google’s offering.

This EU investigation could not only end costly for Google, but could also require them to change products. 

Google said yesterday in a leaked internal memo that they have a strong case against the EU.