The European Commission may force Google to change the search results

European Commissioner for Competition Joaquin Almunia said that he wants Google to stop distorting consumer choices and hinder the business of competitors. It is reported by TechCrunch, referring to The Financial Times.

Almunia told the Financial Times that the EU is still investigating, but he himself is convinced that Google is distracting traffic from competitor services, using its position to promote its own products.

Recently, the US Federal Trade Commission, after its investigation, dropped all charges against Google about intentionally changing search results to highlight its products. However, the Financial Times report suggests that the European Commission may use the same charge in the antitrust investigation of the company's activities.
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For two years, European regulators have been investigating whether Google uses its dominant position in online search to drive traffic to its other products, such as Google Maps or Google Flight Search.

“They monetize this type of business — the strong position they have in the general search market — and I think it’s not only a dominant position — I’m afraid this is an abuse of that dominant position,” Almunia told the Financial Times.

As the Financial Times notes, Google’s position in Europe, where it controls more than 90% of the search engine market in many countries, is even stronger than in the US, where it faces strong competition from Microsoft and Yahoo.

It is expected that Google will submit its proposals at the end of this month to avoid accusations, but Almunia noted that he will have to impose a fine on Google if the proposal turns out to be “unsatisfactory”. Google, for example, offered to label its products, paid search results and advertise more clearly to avoid some of these charges.