European Commission investigates Google

The European Commission has launched a new investigation of internet giant Google, after other search engine companies complained Google was abusing its dominant market position. The World’s Technology Correspondent Clark Boyd reports on Google’s growing troubles in Europe.

The European Commission has launched a formal investigation into Google’s business practices in Europe, after a group of smaller search engines complained that the search giant is abusing its dominant market position.

The move comes after European officials spent months speaking with Google informally about allegations that the company puts links to other search providers too low in its search results. The Commission will also look into whether Google is favoring its own products and services in its results.

A set of smaller search engine companies in Europe filed a formal complaint against Google earlier this year.

One of those companies is a British search engine called �Foundem�. A few years ago, Foundem employees and customers noticed something odd when they searched for Foundem on Google.

�We weren’t showing up in any search results,� says Foundem CEO and co-founder Shivaun Raff. �We were completely excluded from Google’s search results, which effectively disappeared us from the Internet.�

Raff says her company had to talk with Google for three and half years before the situation was corrected. Foundem filed the complaint, she says, to help ensure that other small businesses don’t have to go through the same thing.

In many European countries, Google enjoys a more than 90 percent market share when it comes to search. It’s also expanding the number of online products and services that it offers.

Raff thinks its no coincidence that Google’s search results favor its homegrown goods.

�This is about Google leveraging its dominance in search into any other area that Google chooses to enter, such as mapping, travel or video,� Raff says. �And under European law, a dominant organization has a responsibility not to crush innovation and competition in that market.�

But Google’s not buying that argument.

�Competition is really one click away,� says Google spokesman Bill Echikson. �The user is never locked in and he is free just with the click of his mouse to go somewhere else and find information on the Internet.�

�Yes, we are a big player in online search but if you are looking for books, you can look for Amazon first before us, if you are looking for travel, you might go to Expedia. So there are lots of ways of getting and finding information online.�

The investigation is the latest bad news for Google in Europe. Earlier this year, the company took a beating when it was discovered that the cars used in its Street View program were harvesting personal information from open wi-fi networks.

The European Commission will not say how long the anti-trust investigation into Google might take.

It is not the first time the Europeans have gone after a US tech giant.

�The European Union has very sharp teeth when it comes to anti-trust investigations,� says European technology analyst Chris Green. �Microsoft was fined a colossal amount for its anti-competitive practices.

�The fact is that Google does have a dominant position in the market,� Green says. �And if it is found to be abusing that position, it could be hit with equally large fines.�

In Google’s case, those fines could amount to more than two billion dollars.

Of course, in the case of Microsoft, it took the Commission years to reach a decision and levy a fine.

Google has said that it will cooperate fully with the Commission, but stood its ground in a statement.

�We built Google for users, not websites,� reads the statement. �And the nature of ranking is that some websites will be unhappy with where they rank.�