Courtesy of Mish.
Too Much Satisfaction!
Heaven forbid consumers actually like something too much.
If they do, they buy it or use it more than they buy or use competing products. And when that happens, well it must be “unfair” competition.
Lord knows we cannot possibly tolerate too much consumer satisfaction.
So, with that line of thinking Europe to Accuse Google of Illegally Abusing its Dominance.
Google will on Wednesday be accused by Brussels of illegally abusing its dominance of search in Europe, a step that ultimately could force it to change its business model fundamentally and pay hefty fines.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, is to say that the US group will soon be served with a formal charge sheet alleging that it breached antitrust rules by diverting traffic from rivals to favour its own services, according to two people familiar with the case.
A decision on charges is to be taken by the college of 28 EU commissioners on Wednesday. Some commissioners are concerned that Ms Vestager has, according to one source, restructured and narrowed the case she inherited from her predecessor Joaquín Almunia. As well as search issues, the investigation has looked at allegations that Google illegally scrapes content from rivals, locks some publishers into using Google search ads, and makes it hard for advertisers to move campaigns to rival search engines.
Almost 20 complainants against Google want the search engine to abide by strict rules that ensure its formula treats its own services — providing results for travel, shopping and maps — no differently from rivals. Google and the commission declined to comment.
On top of the pressure from Brussels, this week Google is also under scrutiny in France where lawmakers are considering an initiative that would force it to hand over its secret formula for ranking websites.
Google supporters feel the commission’s volte-face on a settlement reflected politics rather than an independent assessment. No EU antitrust case has ever been extended to three settlement offers, or been revived after complainants were formally warned that their case was about to be rejected.
On top of the pressure from Brussels, this week Google is also under scrutiny in France where lawmakers are considering an initiative that would force it to hand over its secret formula for ranking websites. …
