Google Submits Proposal to European Regulators in Antitrust Case

By

Google's legal issues in Europe are almost as extensive as Apple's issues with Samsung. Google chairman Eric Schmidt has, however, submitted a proposal to European regulators in Brussels in the hopes of avoiding a showdown in regards to the company's business practices.

These issues go all the way back to 2010, when Joaquin Almunia, the European Competition Commissioner, began investigating Google. Everything came to a head in May of this year when Alumnia warned the search giant that it needed to quickly propose changes to several of its practices, namely the way it promotes its own offerings in search results.

"We have made a proposal to address the four areas the European Commission described as potential concerns," Al Verney, a Google spokesman in Brussels, told the Associated Press. "We continue to work cooperatively with the commission."

It's not known yet what changes Google has offered to make, but the areas criticized by the Commission were: the way Google favors its own services in search results, how it displays content from other websites, how it manages ads that appear next to search results and the way its actions affect marketers' ability to buy ads on rival networks.

If a settlement isn't reached, which would lead to the European Commission filing a case against Google, the company could end up being fined up to 10 percent of its annual revenue. Based on Google's revenue last year, the fine could be as much as $3.8 billion — a hefty sum, even for a multibillion dollar corporation.

Alumnia stated in May, however, that he would prefer to "end market abuses as soon as possible, rather than fine misbehavior retroactively."

In June, Google dealt with different concerns regarding its services, namely Google Street View. In Britain, an investigation into this service was reopened after a British government agency decided that Google had "deliberately captured" private data. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, the search giant was let off the hook by the country's Supreme Court, which repealed a lower court decision that dictated Google had to blur the faces of every single person in Switzerland Street View.



 




Edited by Brooke Neuman
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]

TechZone360 Contributing Writer

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Related Articles

Tech Podcast Award Winners Bring Excitement and Enthusiasm to a Range of Important Tech Topics

By: TMCnet Staff    6/18/2025

Tech Podcast Award winners produce engaging, informative, and often entertaining content, bringing valuable insight from industry front lines to the e…

Read More

How Mobile Technology is Driving the Shift to Casino Apps

By: Contributing Writer    6/12/2025

Recent years have seen casino apps completely changing the online casino experience. Thanks to mobile-first technology, apps are becoming the default.…

Read More

Decentralized IT Management: Fad or Future?

By: Contributing Writer    6/5/2025

Managing IT feels like an ongoing balancing act for many businesses. Centralized systems often create bottlenecks, slow down teams, and frustrate empl…

Read More

IT Management as a Driver of ESG Initiatives

By: Contributing Writer    6/5/2025

Businesses today face growing pressure to meet environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards. Customers demand greener practices. Investors lo…

Read More

Everything You Need to Know About Mobile Casinos

By: Contributing Writer    5/30/2025

We live in the age of technology and we have come to solve things on the go, whether we are talking about personal or job-related issues. We have come…

Read More