The ongoing investigation into Google’s abuse of its dominant market share has seen a further development after Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia rejected their proposal to help even the playing field.
Google submitted the proposal to the EU competition regulators last April after numerous complaints that the search engine had been overly aggressive in the promotion of its own services.
The proposal aimed to address concerns that Google have been manipulating search results in their favour. Google suggested that clear labelling of their services as well as promoting at least three rival sites would be enough to allow for competition in the market.
With a share of over 80 per cent of the search market, there are massive concerns that Google are blocking competitions in search results. On analysis of the proposal, complainants such as Microsoft, Foundem and Oracle have suggested that the changes are insufficient and will have little or no effect on the wider market.
Lobbying groups have called for heavy fining should Google fail to produce a more compelling proposal. If the dispute cannot be resolved, Google could face fines of up to 10 per cent of its annual turnover of $31bn.
As of yet it, is not certain when Google will come back with more suggestions as the competition regulators have yet to announce a final deadline for this to be resolved by.