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Google
faces an imminent battle with Joaquin Almunia after the EU competition
chief said the company was 'abusing' its dominant position. Photograph:
Olivier Hoslet/EPA
Brussels
is moving towards a regulatory showdown with Google after the European
commission's competition chief accused the company of diverting internet users to its own services.
Joaquín
Almunia believes Google is giving undue prominence to its own services
such as news, maps and shopping comparison, driving traffic to them to
the detriment of rival websites. The EU is reiterating its tough stance
despite a decision last week by US regulators not to impose changes on
Google's search business.
Google prioritises paid-for search
results, but its "natural" or unsponsored results are meant to be
undistorted by financial interests and based on criteria such as the
popularity or relevance of individual websites.
"We are still
investigating, but my conviction is [Google] are diverting traffic,"
Almunia told the Financial Times. "They are monetising this kind of
business, the strong position they have in the general search market
and this is not only a dominant position, I think – I fear – there is
an abuse of this dominant position."
His comments suggest Brussels will hold the line against Google, despite the US federal trade commission's decision last week not to impose sanctions.
Google
chairman Eric Schmidt met Almunia before Christmas and will submit
detailed proposals suggesting remedies by the end of January.
This could mark the first time that the US group has bowed to regulatory pressure to change its core search business.
The complaints against Google were brought by Microsoft, which has a rival search engine called Bing! and runs parts of Yahoo!'s search operations, and by travel websites Expedia and TripAdvisor, and British company Streetmap.
The
commission said last May it had four main concerns, the first being
possibly distorted "natural" search. The second fear is that Google
copies content such as user reviews from competing services and uses it
in its own offerings without permission.
"In this way they are appropriating the benefits of the investments of competitors," the commission stated.
The third fear is that Google forces other websites for which it sells and delivers search adverts to work with it exclusively.
The
fourth relates to how easily search advertising campaigns booked via
Google can be transferred to other platforms for search advertising.
Almunia
said Google was taking a constructive approach but that Brussels would
be "obliged" to issue formal charges if the remedies it suggests fall
short. In theory remedies could include flagging when Google services
are artificially given a higher billing than rivals.
Google said: "We continue to work co-operatively with the European commission."
If
the case moved to the courts and the EC showed that Google had broken
EU antitrust laws through the abuse of a dominant position, Google
could be fined 10% of its worldwide revenues – which for 2011 amounts
to €2.9bn (£2.3bn).
The Commission could also force its own
choice of changes on Google, although fines have been easier to impose
in previous cases than practical remedies. Microsoft, which fell foul
of Brussels regulators over the preferential treatment it gave to its
own Internet Explorer browser within Windows software, has been fined
€1bn but is still being pursued for not complying with requests to
offer users a choice of browsers as the default for their PC.
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