The European Union has filed a complaint against Google regarding what it says is anti-competitive behavior. The competition commissioner says that the company’s promotion of its own shopping links is enabling it to abuse its position as the world’s leading search service.
The commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, stated that Google must respond within 10 weeks. Google said that it strongly disagreed with the allegations and was confident about making its case. Ms Vestager also said that an investigation into whether Google’s bundling of apps and services into Android was unfair was underway. She also announced that the EU planned to continue monitoring the search giant’s other activities after complaints were aired by its competitors.
Ms Vestager stated that any action taken against Google would be designed to help consumers. The complaint comes after a five-year-long investigation into Google, and the legal process could result in fines of billions of Euros. 90% of EU-based searches are made via the service. Ms Vestager said that preliminary findings from the Commission added weight to claims that the company had been “systematically” giving prominence to its own adverts, artificially boosting its presence in the comparison shopping market.
Ms Vestager was speaking at a press conference in Brussels.