Google favours ‘in-house’ search results
April 9, 2013 6:18 pm
By Alex Barker in Brussels and Bede McCarthy in London
Google faces having to offer users in Europe more choice
of other specialised search engines after Brussels investigators found its
results were favouring its in-house services to the detriment of consumers.
One of the European Commission’s primary concerns,
according to officials involved, is the visibility in search results of rival
so-called “vertical search” services – in areas such as maps, finance or
weather – that may provide more relevant results to a query.
This specific finding indicates that alongside widely
expected concessions to more clearly label Google’s own services, the US group
will also need to offer solutions that give more prominence to rival specialist
search services and consumers clearer alternatives.
Google is this week submitting its final offer of
concessions to the Commission, which aim to head off formal antitrust charges
and a hefty fine. This is the first time Google has bowed to regulatory
pressure over its search business but rivals including Microsoft fear the deal
will still let Google off the hook.
The specific details of the concessions package remain
unclear. But Joaquin Almunia, the EU’s competition chief, has hinted that the
settlement will go beyond simply changing the labelling of Google services.
Mr Almunia told the New York Times there should be a
“real choice” for users. “Maybe we will ask Google to signal what are the relevant
options, alternative options, in the way they present the results,” he said.
According to people involved, the EU investigation
running since November 2010 identified two main areas of concern in Google’s
search practices and favourable treatment of its own services – while
dismissing a host of other allegations made by complainants, including the
demotion of rival services.
The first relates to the lack of a clear distinction
between a promoted link and the normal result of the search engine.
Investigators argued this left some consumers less able to make an informed
choice.
The second concern regards Google promoting its own
service and thereby making rival specialist results harder to find and less
visible, even when they are most relevant for the consumer.
“Google is dominant in web search and therefore an
important source of traffic for competing specialised search services,” said a
Commission spokesperson.
“These services depend on access to traffic. We are
worried that the diversion of traffic could reduce choices to invest and
innovate in specialised search, which could in the end reduce the quality and
choice of services available to users.”
The EU’s stance contrasts with the US Federal Trade
Commission, which gave the all-clear to Google’s search engine. But it is still
likely to bitterly disappoint Expedia, Microsoft and TripAdvisor, who complain
Google is using delaying tactics to further entrench its dominance.
Some Google rivals this week submitted a fresh complaint
over the prominence of its own services in the Android mobile operating system
– a separate Commission investigation that will remain open even after the
settlement over the search business.
Fairsearch, an alliance that includes Microsoft, Nokia
and Oracle, has filed a complaint with the European Commission accusing Google
of using “deceptive conduct to lock out competition in mobile”.
According to the complaint, Google’s open-source Android
software is provided free to manufacturers on the condition they give a suite
of Google services – beyond its maps and e-mail – prominence by default.
Fairsearch counsel Thomas Vinje said Google was using the software as a “trojan
horse to deceive partners, monopolise the marketplace and control consumer
data”.
A Google spokesman said the company continued “to work
co-operatively with the European Commission”.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013.
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