Google vs. Europe Becomes Three-Front War
September 2, 2016
The article titled European Commission Files Third Antitrust Charge Against Google on The Guardian discusses the most recent accusation against Google by the European Commission. This time, they took aim at AdSense advertising. The antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager announced that Google is preventing the visibility of competitors and favoring its own shopping service as well. The article states,
The EU regulator accuses Alphabet’s Google of abusing its dominance in search to benefit its own advertising business, which has historically been the company’s main revenue stream. The EC also reinforced its existing charge against Google’s shopping service…The EU’s concerns around Google’s adverts relate to the company’s AdSense for Search platform, in which Google acts as an intermediary for websites such as those of online retailers, telecoms operators or newspapers, with searches producing results that include search ads.
Alphabet’s Google has been given 10 weeks to answer the commission’s statement of objections. If the company is found guilty, its fines will consist of up to 10% of its global turnover. While Google works on its response to the charges, another investigation by the EU continues. The latter involves Google’s preferential treatment of its own products such as Google Chrome through its Android system.
Chelsea Kerwin, September 2, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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