Google he crushes the competition? Yes according to the European Union. It’s official: the US internet group is accused by the European Commission of abusing its dominant position in search engines. New York Times , Wall Street Journal and Financial Times had announced on Tuesday evening. The European Commission has therefore ruled Wednesday on sending a “statement of objections” to Google, that is an indictment. In the worst case, Google faces a fine of about $ 6 billion, or 10% of its worldwide turnover in 2014, but before the group can negotiate a friendly agreement.
“I fear that the company has an unfair advantage its own price comparison service, in violation of EU rules on restrictive agreements and abuse of dominant position “, said the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrete Vestager. Specifically, the Commission is concerned that Google users, which represents 90% of searches on the internet in most European countries, “do not necessarily see the most relevant results in response to their requests” .
Margrethe Vestager, in charge of Competition, submitted this proposal in the Commission meeting on Wednesday. The EU executive has made this decision following the conclusions of a very long five-year investigation into anti-competitive practices of Google. The European competition watchdog accuses him mainly to highlight its pages its own specialized services to the detriment of competing search engines, such as price comparison sites such as Kelkoo or specialized sites like Expedia in travel. A statement of objections can lead to a more amicable agreement between the Commission and the offending group or otherwise by a fine of up to 10% of the worldwide turnover of the group, which reached $ 66 billion in 2014 .
Google did not respond but in an internal memo obtained by the site of technological information Re / code reported by the New York Times search engine affirmed s wait for the decision of the European Commission, in particular on the results it provides a user when doing research for shopping.
Android viewfinder
In proceedings separate, Brussels also announced to open an investigation against Google, but this time on Android, its system for mobile phones. The commission wants to know if the American giant does not violate the rules of European competition with its operating system.
“The European Commission has opened a formal investigation against Google to scrutinize whether the company’s conduct regarding its Android operating system for mobile devices and the applications and services for smartphones and tablets infringed EU rules on competition “, the Commission said in a statement. It intends to “assess whether, concluding anti-competitive agreements and / or committing any abuse of dominant position, Google has unlawfully interfered with the development and access to the operating system market for mobile devices, as well as applications and mobile communication services from its competitors in the European Economic Area (EEA) “.
Brussels remember that Android has become ” the first operating system ” for smartphones in the EEA. The Commission emphasizes that the majority of smartphone and tablet manufacturers use Android in combination with a range of applications and proprietary service from Google. “To get the right to install these applications and services on their Android devices, manufacturers should enter into various agreements with Google.” The Commission, which received two complaints, determining if certain conditions “violate EU rules on restrictive agreements and abuse of dominant position” . She noted that the investigation will focus on three issues:
Does he amércain The group “forced or encouraged smartphone and tablet manufacturers to pre-install any applications or services exclusively from Google? A he prevented manufacturers who wish to install apps and Google services on some of their Android devices to develop and commercialize modified versions of Android and potentially competing on other devices? “ asks the commission. Which raises a final question: Google does a “tied or bundled certain Google services and applications distributed on Android devices with other applications, services and / or Google’s application programming interfaces? “
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