EU probes Google for 'antitrust violations'

The European Commission (EC) has launched an investigation into the world’s number one search engine after other websites claimed they were treated unfairly.

Google is accused of having “abused a dominant position in online search” by lowering the ranking of unpaid search results of competitors who offer very targeted services, such as comparison sites, to give its own services higher prominence.

It has also been accused of lowering the “Quality Score” of sponsored links for said companies, which affects the price they pay for advertising, and making companies sign exclusive advertising deals so the ads do not appear on competing websites.

“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,” said a statement from the EC.

“This initiation of proceedings does not imply that the Commission has proof of any infringements. It only signifies that the Commission will conduct an in-depth investigation of the case as a matter of priority.”

Google has strongly denied the allegations, claiming its main interest was “users, not websites.”

“The nature of ranking is that some websites will be unhappy with where they rank,” said a statement from the company. “Those sites have complained and even sued us over the years, but in all cases there were compelling reasons why their sites were ranked poorly by our algorithms.”

It claimed the only goal of the website was to give the best answers for users, so although it could appear to be giving preferential treatment to its own services, it felt “a map for an address query, or a series of images for a query like “pictures of Egyptian pyramids’” was more suitable than “ten blue links.”

On the Quality Score allegations, Google said all the major search engines used such a system to make sure their users see the relevant adverts.

“These quality scores are determined based on our assessment of the relevance of the ad to the query and whether the site provides useful information,” said the statement. “We also inform advertisers of their quality scores and give them tips on how to improve them.”

“Typically, the sites that complain about quality scores have less relevant, lower quality content which we have learned our users are less interested in seeing.”

The web goliath added it had stopped using exclusive contracts almost two years ago.

“Our contracts with computer and software vendors, where we provide search services, are all short term,” it said. “And most importantly, these contracts can’t prevent users from choosing other search providers."

However, despite its protests, Google has said it would work with the EC to “address any concerns.”

No time scale has been put on the investigation as of yet.

“There is no legal deadline to complete inquiries into anticompetitive conduct,” said the EC. “Their duration depends on a number of factors, including the complexity of each case and the extent to which the undertakings concerned co-operate with the Commission.”

This article originally appeared at itpro.co.uk