Google given more time to answer EU anti-trust charges
The EU Commission has offered the US tech giant more time to respond to allegations that the company abused its search engine’s market dominance to favour its shopping service
European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager speaks about the anti-trust charges levelled at tech giant Google
The announcement by Brussels will give Google a two-week extension in order to formally respond to the anti-trust case brought against the company.
“The Commission has now extended [it] to August 31,” explained a company spokesperson.
The EU’s investigation surrounds complaints made by competitors that Google was giving preferential treatment to its own shopping product in its search engine.
“The Commission’s objective is to apply EU antitrust rules to ensure that companies operating in Europe, wherever they may be based, do not artificially deny European consumers as wide a choice as possible or stifle innovation,” explained EU Anti-Trust Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager.
If found guilty, Google is set to face heavy fines, with the Brussels capable of fining the company up to 10 percent of its yearly earnings – which equates to approximately €59bn ($66bn).
“In the case of Google I am concerned that the company has given an unfair advantage to its own comparison shopping service, in breach of EU antitrust rules,” added Vestager. “Google now has the opportunity to convince the Commission to the contrary.”
EU officials have been quick to jump on Google’s recent restructuring, which saw the company launch the holding company Alphabet, and were adamant that it would not affect its investigation: “A company does not insulate itself from a competition investigation through a change in corporate structure,” EU spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said in email to technology website recode.
