EU to investigate Google after complaints
And so it begins: the European Commission has opened an antitrust investigation of Google.
The Telegraph reported late Tuesday that European regulators have sent a letter to Google asking the company to explain how it ranks search results and advertising after complaints from European businesses such as Foundem, a price comparison site, and Ciao, another price comparison site owned by Microsoft. Those companies--Foundem in particular--have long complained that Google penalized their Web sites in search results under competitive pressure.
Google confirmed that it has received an inquiry from European regulators but denied any wrongdoing. "While we will be providing feedback and additional information on these complaints, we are confident that our business operates in the interests of users and partners, as well as in line with European competition law," the company said in a blog post.
It seemed like only a matter of time before a major regulatory agency opened a formal review of Google. The company has faced extreme scrutiny over the past several years as it has come to dominate the Internet. Google's share of the search and search advertising markets in Europe is even higher--around 90 percent--than it is in the U.S., where Google has come to know its regulatory counterparts quite well during the first year of the Obama administration.
In August, Foundem complained that Google was penalizing its site in search results, suggesting it was because the company was threatened by Foundem's business model. Google denied any ill intent at that time, saying that Foundem was just like any other Web site in that it needed to produce relevant content to stay in the top search results.
In its blog post Tuesday, Google implied that the complaints from Ciao were directed from Microsoft, easily its biggest rival in the tech industry. "Regarding Ciao!, they were a long-time AdSense partner of Google's, with whom we always had a good relationship. However, after Microsoft acquired Ciao! in 2008 (renaming it Ciao! from Bing) we started receiving complaints about our standard terms and conditions," Google said.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom. 
But then, maybe these offended complainers should stop crying like babies and innovate?
There's a novel idea for you.
So what if Google penalizes someone. Are foundem paying for any of this? Thought not.
Awww, Google lowered my page rank, and my old, SEO keyword crammed crap site isn't getting the traffic it used too. Boo freakin' hoo. Go cry to Bing and pay Microsoft to bump your listings up. They're the greedy sort who listen to talking money.
So long as Google keeps giving ME, as a USER, better results, I'll keep on using them. But when the governments around the world start telling them how to do their jobs, and inform all the spam-loving SEO keyword cramming miscreants how to farm the results so I get bad results ... I'll have to switch to someone else.
I use Google because they give me relevant results fast ... not because they tell underhanded web designers how to spam their way to the top of the results page.
I think someone needs to learn to optimize.
Anyways, these comments are clearly non-sense from pre-pubescent nerds. I hope there are still some people out there with something constructive to say. If I remember well, when Intel was being probed, comments were "why not google???" and indeed, with an overwhelming part of the market and complaints from it's US competitors, voil?, the investigation starts.
And btw, if you think Google will give any real relevant business secrets in its explanation to the court, you're not only pre pubescent but clearly dumb.
Ciao.
If you don't believe it, go and find out for yourself. You obviously need to learn by yourself and in your own time.
Weirdly, corporate lying is covered by a collection of laws in various OECD countries and is punishable within those various countries.
Strangely enough, most people appear to understand that corporate lying is an offence.
It's a fairly futile process. They cannot understand that if what is alleged about Google is true, then Google will be in breach of a series of laws which require service provision to be clear and honest.
Oddly most people would understand that if a search engine deliberately hobbles a company, then this is not only unethical but illegal.
Strange that some people don't understand that acting in this fashion is a breach of fair trade laws (or whatever they are called in different countries).
Naturally, if Google made such a claim at the beginning of each search eg. We will deliberately or randomly remove information from your search, or block competitors names etc, then this would adversely affect the probability of someone using their search engine.
So, my advice to you my friend is:
Don't argue with idiots. They only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.
- by grimblegromble February 27, 2010 7:06 AM PST
- I'm really not sure why so many people in these comments are defending Google. Everyone seems to think that just because Google offers free stuff and they seem really innovative and all that, that they're a great company. For a while, when they were just coming out with Gmail and then Google Docs and all that, they seemed to be fine, a cheap (free) alternative to the Microsoft sh*t we had been forced to use for years. But now, in the last few years, it's becoming more and more obvious that Google doesn't have our interests in mind. They take all of our information, we have no privacy, and why? So that they can make more money off specialized ads.
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(26 Comments)They're just like Microsoft! Microsoft had a monopoly and people finally decided that enough was enough and so now you see a large increase in Mac and Linux users. Google is creating a monopoly but not just in software, they're coming out with the netbook this year so that gets them into hardware, they're becoming an ISP, they now have legal rights to become energy suppliers... pay attention folks! Don't just blindly keep following this Pied Piper. I ditched Gmail and Google Docs, Chrome, and all that, a long time ago. Although the alternatives are not always better in terms of quality of service, at least I know that the company I'm supporting isn't trying to screw me over as much as Google.