Rumored for months as the five-year antitrust investigation was finishing, the European Union has formally accused Google of skewing its search results to those companies participating in the search engine’s shopping services. Brussels is also continuing its pursuit of other anti-competitive charges against Google businesses, including the mobile operating system Android, which U.S. rivals have been pressing Washington to launch antitrust litigation against.
“I am concerned that the company has given an unfair advantage to its own comparison shopping service, in breach of EU antitrust rules," said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. “The result [is] that consumers do not see what’s relevant for them,” she added, stressing the commission’s concern for maximizing “consumer choice and innovation” on the Internet. “We are not here to take the side of rivals — we are here to take the side of competition.”[1]