Regulators Probes Google

Competition regulators are looking at Google over anti-trust issues that Google may be manipulating its search results in its favor.

European Commission vice president Joaquin Almunia and US Federal Trade Commission chairman Jon Leibowitz met in Brussels recently to discuss the issue whether to impose a crackdown on the tech giant or accept a voluntary commitment from the company.

Google has been in hot water recently over claims that it is manipulating search results. Google has offered an undisclosed amount in settlement but US and European regulators have yet to decide whether to accept it or not.

If regulators do not accept Google’s offer, the company would face legal action and may be required to pay a fine of US$4 billion or some 10 percent of Google’s 2011 revenue.

Almunia said regulators are in talks with Google if it’s possible to reach a settlement. He, however, is quick to say that they haven’t reached that point yet.

One of the commission’s concerns is that AdWords is manipulated to make Google’s comparison site rank higher against other comparison shopping and consumer review sites. This is not the first time that Google was observed to have been squeezing its competitors out the market.

A representative from the Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace (ICOMP) recently paid a visit to Australian regulators, companies and politicians to seek support. ICOMP legal counsel David Wood said Google’s dominance may kill competition and eventually discourage innovation.

Google, meanwhile, said the company continues to provide great user experience to ensure they get answers for their searches. The Google spokesman also said the tech giant is ready to fight over-regulation head-on if this means government would threaten Google’s ability to deliver that level of user experience.