The European Commission has formally accused Google of abusing its internet searching dominance to illegally steer European customers to its in-house online services.
The EU's Competition Commissioner Margarethe Vestager has also announced that Europe will open an investigation to examine claims that Google's Android operating system forced wireless companies to sign up to uncompetitive contracts to use Google's mobile software.
The initial case relates to Google's online shopping platform - but this is potentially the first step in a broader case. Ms Vestager says that her staff will continue to investigate other areas of Google's operations including its travel search function.
“I am concerned that the company has given an unfair advantage to its own comparison shopping service, in breach of EU antitrust rules,” Ms Vestager said.
She continues: “Google now has the opportunity to convince the commission to the contrary.”
Over 90 percent of internet searches in the EU are carried out by Google.
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Google has rejected the accusations - in response to the Commission's statements it published a lengthy blog post title "The search for harm."
It reads: "While Google may be the most used search engine, people can now find and access information in numerous different ways - and allegations of harm, for consumers and competitors, have proved to be wide of the mark [...] In fact, people have more choice than ever before."
The firm says that it can prove that its services did not distort markets like online shopping. It posted a series of graphs that illustrate how its services have performed against competitors over the last 8 years - and argues that this shows that the company has not dominated the market.
http://googleblog.blogspot.ie/
Google offers a similar response to the statements regarding it's Android OS:
"The European Commission has asked questions about our partner agreements. It's important to remember that these are voluntary—again, you can use Android without Google—but provide real benefits to Android users, developers and the broader ecosystem."
It concludes: "We look forward to discussing these issues in more detail with the European Commission over the months ahead."
Ms Vestager will travel to the US tonight to meet with antitrust officials in Washington.
An internal email sent to Google employees yesterday regarding the then pending legal action reads: "We have a very strong case, with especially good arguments when it comes to better services for consumers and increased competition."
