BRUSSELS, April 15 The European Union accused
Google Inc on Wednesday of cheating competitors by
distorting Internet search results in favour of its Google
Shopping service and also launched an antitrust probe into its
Android mobile operating system.
Following are the highlights of the EU news conference
following the EU announcement:
EU ANTI-TRUST CHIEF MARGRETHE VESTAGER AT NEWS CONFERENCE
“Today’s statement of objections on comparison shopping is
of course limited. But it is also the first place where we got a
complaint that Google is favouring its product in search for the
longest period in time. However, we will continue to look at
Google’s conduct in other areas … If an infringement is
proven, a case focusing on comparison shopping could potentially
establish a broader precedent for enforcing EU competition rules
in other instances of Google favouring its own services over
competitive services.”
ON SCREEN DESIGN
“Just to be absolutely clear. We do not wish to interfere
with screen design, with design choices (…) or how the
algorithm works. Rather, what we would like to see, is that
consumers are certain to see the best comparison shopping
results.”
CONSUMER CONCERNS
“Our investigation so far has shown that when a consumer
opens a shopping related query in Google’s search engine,
Google’s comparison shopping product is systematically displayed
prominently at the top of its results. This display is
irrespective of whether it is the most relevant to the query.”
ON WEB SCRAPING
“There are other investigations as well. The Commission has
previously expressed three other concerns as regards to Google’s
conduct, that being the copying http://ift.tt/1GwSYV8 of rivals’ web content, also
known as scraping, exclusivity in its agreement with advertising
partners and undue restrictions on advertisers’ ability to use
competing advertising platforms.
“We will continue actively to investigate these three
concerns.”
ON ANDROID PROBE
“In particular we will address three different concerns. The
first concern is that we will look into Google allegedly
requiring or incentivising smart phone and tablet manufacturers
to exclusively pre-install Google’s own application or services,
in particular Google’s search engine.
“Second, we will look into the alleged bundling together of
certain Google products with other apps and other services and
thirdly we will investigate if Google is hindering the ability
of manufacturers of smart phones and tablets who want to use the
Android operating system from being able to use and develop
other open source versions of Android.
“These issues are distinct from the Google comparison
shopping case and the investigations will of course be
different.”
ROAD FROM HERE
“For me the road from here is open because I would like to
hear what Google has to say for itself and I think this is very
important because the statement of objections is not the end.”
ON A POTENTIAL FINE
“I think it si very important that every road is open, both
when it comes to commitments but also when it comes to the other
road which is of course by the end of that, there is a fine.”
OTHER AREAS
“We are still actively looking into the other related
markets, that means mapping, hotels, flights, in order to get a
deeper understanding of this.”
GOOGLE IN OUR LANGUAGE
“It’s in our language, if you look for something you say
‘let me Google it’. It’s in our behaviour, it’s in the way we
work because we find that these products work for us. I think
you should congratulate a company that is so successful.
“But that being said, I think that it’s important that such
a dominant position is not abused to (give preferential
treatment to) your own product. Because then consumers will not
be getting the best available choice when they do their
queries.”
(Reporting by Brussels newsroom)
The post HIGHLIGHTS-EU charges Google over shopping searches, to probe Android
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