Rivals want to review new Google concessions in EU antitrust probe
SAN FRANCISCO -- Looking to settle a nearly three-year-long probe into allegations it abuses its dominance in Europe to favor its own services, Google has offered new concessions to the European Commission.
“I can confirm that the commission has received new proposals from Google,” EU Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said Monday. “If the commission considers the proposals to be satisfactory, there could be an agreed solution in the coming months.”
EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in an interview with Bloomberg Television that he received Google’s latest proposals last week.
Competitors complained a previous offer from Google to end the investigation into whether the technology giant stifles competition in online advertising in Europe did not adequately address their concerns. They are demanding to review the new concessions.
In a statement, a lawyer for the lobbying group FairSearch said: “Given the failure of Google to make a serious offer last time around, we believe it is necessary that customers and competitors of Google be consulted in a full, second market test.”
The EU Commission declined to comment.
Google had proposed to provide links to competing search engines and make it easier for advertisers to run search ad campaigns on other services. After rivals demanded tougher concessions, the European Union’s antitrust regulator had asked Google to come up with further steps.
“Our proposal to the European Commission addresses their four areas of concern. We continue to work with the Commission to settle this case,” Google said in a statement.
Google has a search market share of more than 80% in Europe, according to research firm ComScore. It has been accused of favoring its own search engine and lifting content from other services.
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