Europe Preparing Another Antitrust Case Against Google
European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager is preparing to reopen the antitrust case against Google following the settlement with the search giant under Joaquin Almunia two years ago.
Vestager has been speaking to various advisors both inside and outside of Europe, alongside companies affected by Google’s anti-competitive search results. She also spoke to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt although the details of this discussion have not been made public.
Reopening the case would put Google in a rather precarious position considering existing tensions in Europe. The UK government has imposed a “Google tax” on multinational corporations skipping tax day through loopholes in the current system. In Spain the newspaper union has effectively banned Google News from the country to the dismay of many newspapers operating inside Spain.
There is also the matter of Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems currently pursuing a lawsuit at the European Court of Justice against several U.S. corporations involved in the National Security Agency’s PRISM program that implanted back-door surveillance systems onto social networks. These programs violate the EU-US safe passage laws that enforce safe passage for information of Europeans to U.S. authorities.
Google will be forced to appeal against the European’s antitrust lawsuit unless it plans on removing its search business from the rest of Google, paying a potential $6 billion in fines and changing the way it handles business in Europe.
In many ways Google is a victim of its own success but it’s also too ambitious with its services in many eyes. Services like Yelp, Trip Advisor, Here Maps and others feel the burden of Google’s search results — which tend to favor Google’s own services over competitors.
Google has already been asked to remove the search business from services used by the European Parliament but since the parliament holds no authority, Google chose not to listen. The European Commissioner for Competition does have authority — the authority to change the way Google works or fine the search giant into irrelevance.
These are high stakes and even with U.S. President Barack Obama siding with Google, European countries are sick of U.S. corporations’ tax avoidance and backdoor surveillance, pushing them to look for other ways to attack.
European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager is preparing to reopen the antitrust case against Google following the settlement with the search giant under Joaquin Almunia two years ago.
Vestager has been speaking to various advisors both inside and outside of Europe, alongside companies affected by Google’s anti-competitive search results. She also spoke to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt although the details of this discussion have not been made public.
Reopening the case would put Google in a rather precarious position considering existing tensions in Europe. The UK government has imposed a “Google tax” on multinational corporations skipping tax day through loopholes in the current system. In Spain the newspaper union has effectively banned Google News from the country to the dismay of many newspapers operating inside Spain.
There is also the matter of Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems currently pursuing a lawsuit at the European Court of Justice against several U.S. corporations involved in the National Security Agency’s PRISM program that implanted back-door surveillance systems onto social networks. These programs violate the EU-US safe passage laws that enforce safe passage for information of Europeans to U.S. authorities.
Google will be forced to appeal against the European’s antitrust lawsuit unless it plans on removing its search business from the rest of Google, paying a potential $6 billion in fines and changing the way it handles business in Europe.
In many ways Google is a victim of its own success but it’s also too ambitious with its services in many eyes. Services like Yelp, Trip Advisor, Here Maps and others feel the burden of Google’s search results — which tend to favor Google’s own services over competitors.
Google has already been asked to remove the search business from services used by the European Parliament but since the parliament holds no authority, Google chose not to listen. The European Commissioner for Competition does have authority — the authority to change the way Google works or fine the search giant into irrelevance.
These are high stakes and even with U.S. President Barack Obama siding with Google, European countries are sick of U.S. corporations’ tax avoidance and backdoor surveillance, pushing them to look for other ways to attack.
