Yahoo Finance Google Gives Ground In EU Antitrust Case
Google (NasdaqGS: GOOG - news) has proposed a number of changes to the way it displays search results in an effort to overcome concerns that it is abusing its market position.
The European Union's antitrust body invited the search engine's competitors to comment on the concessions before they are approved.
An investigation into Google's market position in Europe was launched after complaints from rivals including software giant Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT - news) .
In a statement, the European Commission (EC) said it had "concerns that Google may be abusing its dominant position in the markets for web search, online search advertising and online search advertising intermediation in the European Economic Area".
It highlighted four areas of concern which it said "could harm consumers by reducing choice and stifling innovation in the fields of specialised search services and online search advertising".
In response, Google outlined concessions that include labelling results from its own services - like Youtube and Google Maps - more clearly, to enable users to identify promoted content.
The search engine also agreed to display search results from its competitors and link to their services, the EC said.
Under the proposals, specialist websites will be able to prevent some of their content being used by Google and publishers will be able to control how their content is displayed on Google News.
The EC said complainants - which include TripAdvisor (NasdaqGS: TRIP - news) , newspapers, map providers and price comparison sites - have one month to examine the concessions
"The Commission will take them into account in its analysis of Google's commitment proposals," it said.
"If the Commission concludes that they address its four competition concerns, it may decide to make them legally binding on Google."
But some of the internet giant's rivals have expressed disappointment over the proposed changes.
Lobby group ICOMP, which represents five companies including Microsoft, said: "It is clear that mere labelling is not any kind of solution to the competition concerns that have been identified.
"Google should implement the same ranking policy to all websites."
British price comparison site Foundem's chief executive was also critical, saying that Google's proposals "fell short".
"Instead of promising to end its abusive practices, Google's proposal seems to offer a half-hearted attempt to dilute their anti-competitive effects, by labelling Google's own services and throwing in some token links to competitors' services alongside them," Shivaun Raff said.
A Google spokesperson said: "We continue to work cooperatively with the European Commission."
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