European Commission reopens Google antitrust investigation after political storm over proposed settlement
Competition commissioner says ‘very negative’
responses from complainants and new data raised over summer requires
examination
In a surprise
move, the European Commission is reopening its four-year antitrust
investigation into Google’s search and advertising business - and could open a
separate one into its Android mobile operating system.
Joaquin
Almunia, the EC’s antitrust chief, told Bloomberg TV on Sunday that following
“very, very negative” responses from complainants to the proposed settlement
unveiled in the spring that he is “trying to extract from Google solutions to
these solid arguments.”
The
unprecedented move comes after a political storm over the proposed settlement
which Almunia, who will step down in the autumn, had hoped to sign in order to
end the long-running investigation.
Speaking to
Bloomberg TV on Sunday, Almunia said: “In this investigation, we received a lot
of complaints. We have been trying to obtain from Google proposals to overcome
the difficulties and the concerns. Now with the last version of proposals we
came back to the complainants. The complainants sent us replies during the
summer. Some of these replies are very very negative.
“And in some
of those replies, some complainants have introduced new arguments, new data,
new considerations so we now need to analyse this and to see if we can find
solutions – if Google can find solutions to some of these concerns which we
consider justified, and we are in this process. So it’s a long investigation,
it’s a complex issue.”
Ministers from
Germany and France, as well as other commissioners in the EC, had criticised
the proposed settlement - which also became the source of fierce opposition from
complainants to the original investigation, who said Almunia had not put it
through “market testing” to examine its effects on their businesses.
The
long-running investigation formally began in November 2010, when Almunia opened
an investigation into whether Google’s dominance in Europe’s search advertising
market, where it accounts for roughly 95% of the search market, required
regulatory action.
In May 2012
Almunia said there were four key areas of
concern about
Google’s business: its links to its own “vertical search” services such as
Google Shopping, YouTube and Maps over rivals, the copying of content from
competing vertical search companies, restrictions on rivals advertising on
sites using Google ads, and the portability of advertising campaigns from
Google’s system.
While the
third and fourth areas seemed settled, the first has remained a source of
contention to complainants, while German publishers in particular have objected
strongly to the use of their content in services such as Google News.
Over the
summer a coalition of publishers and others lobbied the EC, and particularly
Almunia, to reopen the negotiations.
A Google
spokesperson said: “We continue to work with the EC to resolve the concerns
they have raised.”
Almunia said
that the competition division is also looking “in parallel, in a less advanced
manner, on other cases regarding Google such as the Android ecosystem.” There,
rivals such as Microsoft have said that the insistence that handset
manufacturers using Android with Google’s services have to use Google’s search
and maps and give them prominent positions on the home screen stifles
competition.
The key
objection to the proposed settlement, which would have allowed rival services
to buy spaces at the top of search results pages, was that it would not prevent
Google from favouring its own services, and would divert money from the rivals
to Google even if they received clickthroughs from the adverts - rather than the
zero-cost solution if they were ranked highly in “organic” search results, and
Google was prevented from putting its own commercial services above those.
Almunia
declined to give a timescale. “We are in an ongoing process so I cannot
anticipate the end, I cannot anticipate the conclusions. We work in a rigorous
way, as always, trying to understand the arguments of the complainants and
trying to extract from Google solutions to these solid arguments. We are in
this process.”
But Google
chairman Eric Schmidt insisted in a letter to the
Financial Times on Saturday that contrary to any claims by European news
publishers, “Google is not ‘the gateway to the internet’” and added “Nor is it
true that we promote our own products at the expense of competitors… if you
want to buy something, whether it is shoes or insurance, we try to show offers
and websites where you can actually buy things.
“That’s more
relevant than a link to a specialised search engine, where you have to repeat
your query. And if you need directions to a pharmacy, you get a Google Map with
the closest stores. We
think that is a great result for users.”
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario