EU: Google falls short on offered concessions

European Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Google will need to offer more concessions to quell concerns over the way the search giant presents its results, say reports. Almunia announced Wednesday that Google’s current offer, which was bombarded with criticism by competitors and third parties, is “not enough to overcome our concerns.” While Google responded to assure the company would continue to collaborate with authorities to end the three-year probe, a Google spokesperson said the company’s offer “clearly addresses the four areas of concern” the Commission has. Thus far, Google offered to identify which search results were Google’s own, and to offer searchers links to competing websites. The company faces up to a $5 billion fine if the firm and the Commission cannot reach an agreement, though Almunia did not specify a deadline for Google to revise its offer. The Commission began an investigation into Google for allegations of abuse of dominance and anticompetitive business practices in how it displays search results; Google controls 80 percent of the search engine market in Europe.