Oh No They Didn’t: European Parliament Calls For Break Up Of Google

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1. December 1, 2014 at 8:37 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Europe vs. Google
   Europe’s turkey of a gift to Google
   http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1324785&

   Google may not give much thanks for the gift Europe is about to hand it on Thanksgiving this year.

   The European Parliament could make this Thanksgiving Day a rather unpalatable one for senior executives at Google. Just as these execs tuck into their turkeys, the Parliament is expected to vote on a motion calling for “unbundling search engines from other commercial services.”

   Though the motion does not actually name Google, it is clearly aimed at curbing the search company’s growing dominance in Europe. Recent figures indicate that Google’s search engine owns 90% of the European web search business — significantly higher than in many other regions.

   Google has declined to comment on the matter, but others have been less reluctant to criticize the timing and the intent. “The increased politicization of the Google competition investigation is deeply troubling,” Ed Black, president of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said in a press release. “We have often sided with EU and US competition authorities in support of vigorous enforcement even when focused on our industry’s companies when the facts and law justified action.”

   Black stressed that the whole case has much wider implications “and threatens the entire Internet economy.”

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2. December 7, 2014 at 11:26 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Zack Whittaker / Fortune:
   A look at possible outcomes between EU Commission and Google; splitting off search unlikelyFind

   Could Europe really break up Google? A look at what’s possible—and likely
   http://fortune.com/2014/12/05/google-european-commission-antitrust/

   Parliamentarians want Google to split its search business from its other services. Experts say that won’t happen.

   Europe’s elected elite want to break up Google. The technology giant, known for its web search engine but offering many other products and services, can too easily promote its own wares, they say. Yet leading experts and academics say it’s not going to happen, calling it a nuclear option that would have made more sense in larger, prior corporate scandals.

   The European Parliament in late October called on Internet companies operating in the region to “unbundle” its search engines from its other commercial properties. Although no companies were named, the motion was aimed squarely at Google GOOG -2.24% , the leading search engine by a long shot in Europe with an estimated 90 percent market share.

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