EU: Commission may launch new monster of a Google probe

European Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Tuesday that Google could be facing a monumental competition investigation that would probe the company’s actions in more than just the search market.

As reports emerged that the Commission would not yet settle its years-long investigation into Google for alleged anticompetitive conduct in the way it displays rival search results, Almunia spoke Tuesday to announce that a new case could soon open following several complaints that Google is diverting Internet traffic towards its own services.

Almunia said the case could be bigger than the monster investigation against Microsoft, which lasted 10 years and lead to a $2.8 billion fine.

”We have received complaints on the possible diversion of Internet traffic towards Google services which are not search services, so this is a possible third investigation concerning Google,” the competition chief said at a European Parliament hearing.

Almunia declined to elaborate on the issues, but earlier this year he noted that complaints had been filed against Google accusing the company of leveraging its market dominance to promote Google+ and YouTube, which it owns.

The commissioner is set to leave office at the end of next month, so any new probe will be spearheaded by his successor, Margrethe Vestager.

Full content: Trust.org

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