Five keys to understanding the mess of Google in the European Union – Trade

The European Commission formally accused Wednesday Google of unfair competition for suspecting that its search engine, which captures 90% of Internet searches in Europe, favors their services detriment of competition

Then the case in five points.

WHAT IT ACCUSES GOOGLE
After five years of investigation, the Commission estimates that US Internet giant favors, or favored, on the results of your search engine your own price comparison service “GoogleShopping” and its predecessor, “ Google Product Search “at the expense of the same services offered by its competitors. An operation “systematic” made at the expense of users who do not necessarily see the comparison results more relevant prices. Brussels does not exclude go further in his accusations and include other specialized search engines Google , as “Google Flights” aimed at finding flights.

A RECORD WITH MANY BRANCHES
In addition to price comparison, the EU’s executive arm suspect that Google copies the contents on the Internet of its competitors (the “scraping “), imposes exclusivity clauses its advertisers and imposes restrictions that hurt advertisers who want to migrate your Google AdWords advertising to other sites. The Commission promised to continue investigating “actively” on these points

Another fear. Google could have hampered the development and market access for competitors operating systems Android in the field of mobile telephony. Android is the system used for about 80% of smartphones sold worldwide. The Commission initiated an investigation on this point. It is settle for Google forced or encouraged manufacturers phones and tablets to preinstall only applications or services Google .

A POLITICAL EVENT
US President Barack Obama had accused the EU to investigate Internet giants to defend their commercial interests. “Sometimes, the European response is motivated by trade issues more than anything else. (…) What is described as a noble position is just a way of favoring business interests,” he had said in an interview earlier this year .

A charge that Wednesday defended the European Commissioner in charge of the case, Margrete Vestager, before a two-day visit to Washington. “My children and myself tell us that such company is European or American. We use Google because it offers very good products,” he said at a press conference.

WHAT AWAITING THE COMMISSION
In its notice of objections, the Commission suggests the US giant “treat your own price comparison service in the same way it treats its competitors” what ” not affect the alritmos applied “or how the results pages Google are conceived.

A WHAT GOOGLE IS EXPOSED
“If the investigation confirms suspicions, Google must bear the legal consequences and change the way they carried out their activities in Europe,” said the Commission, which gave ten weeks the group to respond.

At this point you can still reach a mutually agreed solution but in the worst case, the US giant to a fine of up exposed . 10% of its turnover, ie 6,000 million

AFP