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Updated 11.50
THE EU HAS decided to go to war with Google over claims it abused its position as the unassailable search engine giant.
After a five-year investigation into the US tech behemoth, the European Commission today officially accused the company of breaking antitrust rules by distorting search results to favour its own price-comparison service.
The commission said its preliminary view was Google’s policies infringed on EU rules by stifling competition and harming consumers. That could result in fines of over €6 billion – as well as forcing the company to change the way it did business in Europe.
It also announced it was launching a separate competition probe into the tech company’s Android platform tolook at whether Google had abused its position to enter into anti-competitive deals or favour its own apps.
The commission’s anti-trust case centres on the search engine has been favouring its own price-comparison service – now called Google Shopping – by giving it more-prominent positioning in results over the past seven years.
It said Google’s actions harmed consumers because they weren’t necessarily getting the most-relevant information and it also stifled innovation by making it harder for competitors to enter the market.
Martin Schulz / TwitterGlad Commission continues to take #Google case by the horns. Yes to a thriving company but also yes to transparency & no dominance abuse
— Martin Schulz (@MartinSchulz) April 15, 2015
The commission also claimed:
Google enjoys well over 90% market share of the European search engine business, according to figures from StatCounter.
Billions in fines
As a result of the charges, the company could be fined up to 10% of its worldwide turnover – worth $66 billion (€62 billion) last year – although it’s likely the parties would agree a settlement before reaching that point.
Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the commission’s aim was to make sure companies didn’t “artificially deny European consumers as wide a choice as possible or stifle innovation” by giving themselves unfair advantages.
“Google now has the opportunity to convince the Commission to the contrary,” she said.
However, if the investigation confirmed our concerns, Google would have to face the legal consequences and change the way it does business in Europe.”
Tech blog Re/code published an internal Google email confirming the impending charges, although the document added the company had a “very strong case”.
“Competition online is thriving — despite what many of the complainants in this case allege,” the message said.
Indeed if you look at shopping, it’s clear that there’s a ton of competition (including from Amazon and eBay) that has not been harmed by Google’s own shopping service.”
Deal’s off
The tech firm already came close to striking a deal with the commission last year, but that collapsed after protests from powerful member states like Germany and France.
The Google email also said the company was aware the commission was about to launch a formal probe into its Android operating system over claims it favoured its own apps over those of competitors.
The charges are the latest salvo in Europe’s multi-front battle with US tech companies, which have come under fire for everything from tax avoidance to privacy concerns.
The commission is currently looking at claims Apple was handed a sweetheart tax deal in Ireland, while the UK has unveiled its so-called “Google tax” in a bid to stop multinationals diverting profits out of the country.
- With AFP; first published 10.05am
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Disgraceful company, stole the entire game off of a smaller developer, then sued the original developer for copyright infringement to boot. Complete and utter w*****s
Not a bunch to be trusted.
They also trademarked the word “Candy” in Europe.
Didn’t know that.
And there was me about to post a happy comment, oh well expect the worst and you’ll never be disappointed.
used to play it, got to level 167 i think, never paid a thing cos… its rigged. you could be stuck on a level from repeated play in one sitting, come back 2 days later, clear it right away. they see you’ve not used it in a while, so let you move on again. Got bored of it then. Logged into recently and im back at level 1, think they revamped it or maybe they do that if you stop using it for 6 months.
If you have kids near this, don’t let them pay a cent.
Not with a barge pole! Remember Zynga.
Bain of my life
I heard chuck norris just made it to level 587,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. He is halfway to completing the game.
On level 421 and I never have & never will pay a cent to play! :-)
Level 500 is impossible. I really don’t think it’s possible without buying extra moves or help. It’s the very last level so if you wanna finish the game you’ll have to pay up.
Level 500… Seriously, it’s driving me insane at level 86…
Got past it and on 508 now. There are no last levels, it goes on and on and on, taunting me to keep going or fail!!! Aaaah!!
No. Level 500 is the last level in Candy crush saga unless it haven’t done an update.
Dam it! Just updated it. Not on the last level anymore. Dam you Candy Crush!!
Passed level 500 yesterday after a month . Nightmare level
Hahahahaha, see it never flucking ends!! It’s a diabolical plot!!
Feel rather sorry for guy who made Candy Stripe, which King blatantly ripped off and netted loss of earnings as result.
You can still get the original Candy Stripe on Play store.
413 million profits with 12.5% tax! That’s over 51 million to the exchequer. thanks candycrush……… or not?
93 million people with their heads down tutting!!
…mind you, it seems like a little more of a realistic valuation
They’re not giving a valuation as far as I can see though, unless their multiplier is about 1.2 in which case barge pole distance is about as close as private investors are ever likely to get! They’ve just said how much they plan to raise, but no indication of market cap in this article. If the valuation is right they’ll get plenty of interest, lots of m&a in the industry so plenty willing to have a punt in the hope a tech giant might move for them down the road.
Good point(s).
If off to spend my money on cheap hookers so.
Always a sound investment! As long as the return doesn’t involve a trip to James’ of course!
have your say