Google is still continuing to face accusations of having a monopoly. The European Union is reportedly conducting ongoing work on an antitrust investigation into the technology company.
While regulators have supposedly been looking into such matters for the past five years, the current investigation originally started earlier this year.
Google has been accused on multiple occasions for using both its search engine and its smartphone platform to promote its own services rather than the services offered by its competitors. Long story short, many people claim that Google prefers its own offerings.
Competition Commissioner for the EU Margrethe Vestager has said that looking into the matter is a high priority. According to Vestager, the current investigation might expand into multiple probes, with each one being considered completely independent from the rest.
Vestager said, “People feel or experience that they are either being demoted, or Google preferences its own services.”
Last April, Vestager announced that regulators were looking into Google’s Android operating system for possible antitrust violations. Additionally, the EU has called into question the shopping search results for Google, saying that Google promotes its own services in such results.
According to Vestager the shopping case is independent from the OS matter.
“It is a different creature than the Google (shopping) case because people don’t think so much about the operating system on their phone. But those who produce phones or sell phones or develop applications, they are very preoccupied with the operating system. So we give that a high priority,” said Vestager.
The European Union Competition Commissioner went on to say that the process will take some time before anything is firmly determined.
“It is high priority but it will take some time because it is analysis and data comparison et cetera, which is challenging,” she said.
Google has yet to comment on the matter.
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