European lawmakers back Google break-up
European lawmakers back Google break-up
AFP By Alex Pigman 22 hours ago
Brussels (AFP) - The European Parliament voted
overwhelmingly for the break-up of Google on Thursday in a largely symbolic
vote that nevertheless cast another blow in the four-year standoff between
Brussels and the US Internet giant.
In a direct challenge to Google, MEPs assembled in
Strasbourg approved a resolution calling on the EU to consider ordering search
engines to separate their commercial services from their businesses.
While Google is not directly mentioned in the proposal, the
California-based search engine is clearly the target. The resolution passed
with 384 in favour and only 174 votes against.
The European Parliament has no power to launch the
break-up of Google, but the move, introduced by two senior lawmakers, is a further
indication that the mood towards the company in Europe has soured.
Contacted by AFP, a spokesman for Google in Brussels said
the company had no comment to make.
Google has become a lightning rod for critics in Europe
on a broad range of issues from privacy to the protection of national
publishers.
"We wanted to give a strong signal to the European
Commission but also to US companies like Google and to citizens," said a
Belgian MEP, the socialist Marc Tarabella.
Since 2010, Google has been under investigation by the
European Commission in response to complaints that its search engine, the
world's biggest, was squeezing out competitors in Europe.
- Right to be forgotten -
Google and Brussels have also clashed over the so-called
"right to be forgotten", in which the EU's top court ruled last year
that people had a right to ask search engines to delete results involving them
after a period of time.
In another attack on Google, on Wednesday EU privacy
watchdogs issued guidelines calling on the company to apply the right to be
forgotten rule to all search results.
For now, the ruling only applies to European domains,
such as google.fr and google.de, and users can turn to other domains to find
unmodified information.
The parliament debate comes as the commission, the EU's
executive arm, begins a new five-year term, with former Luxembourg premier
Jean-Claude Juncker at its helm.
The new competition commissioner, Denmark's Margrethe
Vestager, has said she would look at the sensitive case carefully, but the
resolution will be added pressure for her to move quickly.
French Digital Affairs Minister Axelle Lemaire said MEPs
had sent a "strong message" and that it was now up to the EU to
design the best way to tackle Internet giants.
EU nations "must ask themselves whether European
regulation is strong enough to address abuse of dominant positions that can
potentially become devastating," she said after talks with ministers in
Brussels.
Weeks before stepping down, Commissioner Vestager's
predecessor, Joaquin Almunia, sharply criticised the "irrational"
response by European politicians to the Brussels investigation of Google.
Google and Almunia had made three attempts to resolve the
dispute, but in each case intense pressure by national governments, Internet
rivals and privacy advocates scuppered the effort.
In a statement Wednesday ahead of the vote, the US
mission to the European Union said it had "noted with concern" the
parliament resolution and urged that the case against Google "not be
politicised".
Two years ago, US authorities dropped a similar case
against Google, having failed to prove the search engine had abused its
dominant market position.
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