Brussels, 06/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission, which opened an investigation at the end of November, following claims that internet giant Google had abused its dominant position in online search (see EUROPE 10267), confirmed on Wednesday 5 January that it has sent questionnaires to the main web players potentially affected by this case.
“Before Christmas, we sent out a series of requests for information and questionnaires to search engine operators, advertising agencies and others,” said Amelia Torres, a Commission spokesperson. She declined, however, to name the companies concerned, though she did indicate that they were “many”. She pointed out that the Commission action was normal and usual practice in anti-trust investigations. She said: “We are still at the investigation stage; we have not yet reached any conclusion”.
The Commission is investigating whether Google has abused a dominant market position in online search by lowering the ranking of unpaid search results of competing services which are specialised in providing users with specific online content, such as price comparisons (so-called vertical search services) and by according preferential placement to the results of its own vertical search services in order to shut out competing services. The Commission is also looking into allegations that Google lowered the “Quality Score” for sponsored links of competing vertical search services. The Quality Score is one of the factors that determine the price paid to Google by advertisers. The Commission's probe also focuses on allegations that Google imposes exclusivity obligations on advertising partners, preventing them from placing certain types of competing ads on their websites, as well as on computer and software vendors, with the aim of shutting out competing search tools. In addition, it is investigating suspected restrictions on the portability of online advertising campaign data to competing online advertising platforms. (O.L./transl.rt)