The EU Antitrust seems to be keeping a close eye on Google, with the intention of launching a dedicated investigation after the summer. This was announced by the European Commissioner for Competition, Joaquin Almunia.
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Reports regarding Google‘s anti-competitive behavior have been circulating for some time, reaching the relevant authorities. Although Almunia did not explicitly name Google, the reference was clear: “My services are currently looking into allegations of anti-competitive conduct in the search engines sector” and furthermore: “The work is in its preliminary stages, but given the importance of search in the competitive online market, I am giving this dossier my utmost attention”.
This investigation was most likely initiated following the disclosure and filing of complaints against Google in February by three companies: Foundem (a British price comparison website), eJustice.fr (a search engine for legal sources), and Microsoft (for its Ciao service).
The three companies hypothesize anti-competitive practices used by Google through algorithms specifically designed to disadvantage the presence of the three portals in search engine results pages (SERPs). The European Commission for Competition is currently reflecting on this hypothesis, as the danger, according to Almunia, would be the closure of the market to potential competitors if a single company assumes a dominant position.
And that Google dominates the search engine sector is an undeniable fact today. However, there is a whole investigation to be conducted and conclusions to be drawn regarding the alleged practices used in Mountain View, which will apparently be some of the topics on the agenda of the European Commissioner for Competition.
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