EU launches Google anti-trust probe (1st Lead)

Nov 30, 2010, 10:54 GMT

Brussels - The European Union's executive is to launch an anti-trust probe into Google following claims that Google's search engine manipulates results to harm rivals, EU officials announced Tuesday.

The investigation comes after some of Google's business rivals complained that its search engine gave their products unfair treatment, the European Commission said in a statement.

The launch of a probe does not mean Google is guilty, the commission stressed.

The commission 'has decided to open an antitrust investigation into allegations that Google Inc has abused a dominant position in online search, in violation of EU rules,' the statement said.

'The opening of formal proceedings follows complaints by search service providers about unfavourable treatment of their services in Google's unpaid and sponsored search results, coupled with an alleged preferential placement of Google's own services,' it said.

The commission is tasked with enforcing the EU's strict rules on fair competition. In the past, it has hit industry titans such as Microsoft and Intel with fines of over 1 billion dollars for what it saw as abuse of their dominant market positions.

The commission investigation into Google is set to focus on the way it ranks its search hits, both those which companies pay to have prioritized ('sponsored links') and those which the search engine generates itself.

Google's rivals claim that it artificially lowers their rankings and boosts its own.

The commission is also to investigate whether Google stopped advertising companies placing adverts for competing services on their websites, the statement said.

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