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'We STRONGLY DISAGREE' that we done WRONG, says Google

Horse-trading between ad giant and Brussels begins

Early reaction

UK-based price comparison website Foundem, which was the original complainant in the five-year-long competition case, welcomed the commissioner's decision to send an SO to Google. The firm's chief Shivaun Raff said:

Today’s announcement isn’t about the potential size of any eventual fine; it is about ending Google’s ability to manipulate its unprecedented power to its own financial ends and to the detriment of consumers and innovation.

Microsoft-backed lobby group ICOMP – which has nosily griped about Google's alleged abuse of dominance in the search market for years – wheeled out its legal counsel David Wood. He said:

An SO cannot be dismissed as a mere preliminary step – it is the product of considerable investigation, detailed analysis of large amounts of factual evidence, and intense internal debate. An SO almost always leads to significant changes in the defendant's business practices.

Meanwhile, FairSearch Europe – whose members include travel price comparison sites TripAdvisor and Expedia – wondered if the prelim SO offered a stepping stone for the EU's competition wing to then proceed with more charges down the line:

In [the] Microsoft [antitrust case] the European Commission pursued one instance of tying, and declined to pursue other issues of tying until they had established a precedent. Once the precedent had been established and confirmed by the courts, the Commission pursued other instances of tying.

Here the European Commission might be adopting a similar approach, pursuing abuses related to online shopping in order to limit the size and complexity of the case, so the Commission can bring it to a conclusion more rapidly. Then if a precedent finding an abuse is ultimately established, the Commission may apply it to other instances of Google’s anti-competitive conduct.

Google has 10 weeks to respond to the EC's allegations. It can also request an oral hearing where the company can present its argument to Brussels' officials.

Meanwhile, Vestager's office is continuing to probe Google on three other areas of concern that were first highlighted by the commissioner's predecessor Joaquin Almunia back in 2012.

At the time, Google chairman Eric Schmidt told The Register "we disagree we are in violation".

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