Google has submitted its ideas for how to address complaints in Europe that it uses its search power to benefit its other online properties.
Antoine Colombani, the European Commission's spokesman on competition policy, told Reuters that the move took place after the EC finished its years-long assessment of Google's search dominance and its effects.
As Google has grown and then expanded from search into other areas, it's faced increasing antitrust concerns in the United States and Europe. At the heart of the concern is that Google can hurt competitors such as "vertical search" specialists by featuring its own results instead. That could include airline flights, e-commerce, maps, and other areas.
In the United States, Google settled the Federaral Trade Commission's antitrust case with minor tweaks of its behavior. That light outcome -- perhaps influenced by Google's ever-heavier lobbying efforts among politicians in Washington, D.C. -- makes it harder for European regulators to come down hard, legal experts have said.
One rumored remedy is for Google would have to label search results that are drawn from its own properties so consumers could make an informed choice about what they're clicking on in search results. Critics, arguing that Google abuses its search dominance by promoting its own properties, want tougher restraints.
One top organization taking on Google is FairSearch, which includes representation from rivals such as Microsoft, Nokia, and Oracle. In an effort to keep pressure on Google, it complained this week that it's using its Android operating system as a way to further its own mobile apps.
Read more: Google proposes fix for Europe's search competition concern | Internet & Media - CNET News
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