EU accuses Google of search ‘abuse'

The competition commissioner said she had issued a "statement of objections", stating that the firm's promotion of its own shopping links amounted to an abuse of its dominance in search. Margrethe Vestager said Google now had 10 weeks to respond. The firm said it "strongly disagreed" with the allegations and looked forward to making its case. Ms Vestager also revealed that she had launched an investigation into whether the way Google bundled apps and services for its Android operating system was unfair, BBC News reports. And the commissioner said the EU would continue to monitor other activities by Google that its rivals had complained about. It follows a five-year investigation into the company and marks the start of a formal legal process that could ultimately lead to billions of euros of fines. Google accounts for more than a 90% of EU-based web searches. 'Preferential treatment' The European Commission has investigated the antitrust allegations - made by Microsoft, Tripadvisor, Streetmap and others - since 2010. Among their complaints was an objection to Google placing adverts from its Shopping service ahead of others' links in relevant searches. Ms Vestager said the Commission's preliminary findings supported the claim that Google "systematically" gave prominence to its own ads, which amounted to an abuse of its dominant position in search. "I'm concerned that Google has artificially boosted its presence in the comparison shopping market with the result that consumers may not necessarily see what's most relevant for them, or that competitors may not get the the commercial opportunity that their innovative services deserve," she told a press conference in Brussels. Ms Vestager said that she was not seeking a wider redesign of Google's search results or asking it to change its algorithms. But she added that the case could set a precedent that would determine how the EU handled other complaints about Google favouring its own mapping, hotels and flights services.

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