EU launches formal Google probe

European antitrust authorities have opened a full investigation into Google after allegations from smaller online search service providers that the US company had abused its dominant market position.

It follows eight months of more informal inquiries by competition officials at the European Commission into the issue, during which Google has answered questions and provided information to the authorities. The commission’s probe will investigate allegations that Google lowered the ranking of unpaid search results from competing services and gave preferential placement to the results of its own vertical search services to shut out competitors. It will also look at charges that Google lowered the “quality score” for sponsored links of competing vertical search services. This is one factor that determines the price advertisers pay to Google. A further element of the investigation centers on the claim that Google imposed exclusivity obligations on its advertising partners, and prevented them from placing competing advertising on their websites. Finally, the competition officials will look at suspected restrictions on the extent to which online advertising data can be moved to competing advertising platforms.