Google had been accused of using its dominance in the market share of internet search in Europe to promote its own products. This is a concern of keeping a competitive market in Europe, which Google had almost completely taken over. In this settlement, Google agreed to give prominence to rivals in its promoted search results for the next five years. Joaquin Almunia, The European Union's competition commissioner, said that this decision was not likely to change, even though some of Google's competitors are not satisfied. They believe that this agreement still allows Google to lead in profit from advertising and from searches. Also, they are concerned that Google will not hold themselves accountable to these changes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/technology/google-reaches-tentative-antitrust-settlement-with-european-union.html?hp
2 comments:
I think this agreement is going to be difficult to keep track of throughout the five year period. The commissioner can place as many restrictions as he feels necessary, but it won't end all advertising issues in Europe. I think the difficulty is mainly due to the fact that Google is such a leader in their industry and restricting the internet search process will be quite difficult. I also agree with the competitors in that if the EU were really trying to punish or set a higher restriction, this current arrangement still allows Google to grasp a lead in advertising profits related to their searches.
Google's traditionally been compliant with regulations, to a fault (particularly with censorship regulations). If the United States can rein in Microsoft with antitrust lawsuits, I'm sure the far more litigious EU can do so with the less legally deviant Google.
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