The EU has criticized Google for being anti-competitive and favoring its own shopping sites, which could lead to further charges and create an opening for competitors to take on the search giant.
The European Union is still doggedly pursuing Google in a competition dispute that could be worth billions of dollars, and open the door for potential competitors.
The EU is trying to portray Google as a monopolist that is abusing the market by using its dominance as a search engine, although it has not yet publicly proclaimed any actual charges against the Internet giant, but the EU could embroil Google in regulatory disputes and legal appeals for years, according to a Reuters report.
This regulatory mess could be a boon to competitors, who would possibly be able to take on Google, as has happened during Microsoft’s antitrust battles in the past.
The EU is accusing Google of anti-competitive practices against shopping sites and using tactics such as “web scraping” to copy content off rival sites. It also cites allegedly restrictive practices on advertising by Google.
The EU’s finding that Google abused its power by favoring its own shopping services could lead to more charges down the road in how it handles other services. This could further extend into Google’s supposed tax avoidance practices and privacy safeguards.
Google has argued that while it is Europe’s most-used search engine, it argues that people find information on the Internet through a variety of methods including social media, mobile apps, and direct traffic to popular websites.
Google said in a statement in response to the European Commission that the EU was off-base in accusing it of causing harm to consumers and competitors, stating that “we respectfully but strongly disagree.”
Although the EU hasn’t indicated it will force Google to change its business model, the declaration could cause investors to avoid betting on the search engine. However, one analyst quoted in the report said that there was “little long-term risk to the business model.”
Similarly, Microsoft was accused of tying its web browser to its Windows software in the late 1990s, leading to a legal battle that dragged on for more than a decade and allowed the entry of Facebook, Apple, Amazon.com and … Google.
