Editor’s note: This article was first published in December 2010, when the European Commission had just opened formal proceedings; Google’s 90% search share and the ad layout described are from then. The case led to the 2017 Google Shopping decision and a fine of about EUR 2.4 billion, upheld by the EU courts.
Google has 90% of the European internet search market, and other internet giants have started to complain, one of them being Microsoft’s Ciao.
The European Commission has decided to open a formal investigation into Google over serious suspicions of abuse of a dominant position in the search engine market, alleging that Google favours its own services and penalises those of its competitors.
Every time we search on Google, we see two categories of results: free ones and paid or sponsored ones, which appear at the top and on the right of the screen. What Brussels is now examining is whether Google abuses its dominant position by pushing its competitors’ services to the bottom, “wiping out” the other search engines.
Brussels, after eight months of investigation, will close this case by setting Google a series of demands and asking it to stop “wiping out” its competitors, or else it will impose a hefty fine.
For its part, Google understands that some companies may feel discriminated against because of its secret algorithm, which is what measures the relevance of certain pages. Even so, as usual, Google isn’t digging its heels in: it is open to suggestions for improvement and, above all, to cooperating so that no one feels discriminated against.
My personal opinion
In this case, my personal opinion will be very short. I’ll just say that I’m absolutely sure that if Bing, Ciao or Yahoo dominated the search market, they would make it incredibly easy for Google, their direct competitor, to promote its service, and they would never look after their own interests. Oh, please!
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