Brussels: European Union regulators will investigate whether Google Inc has abused its dominant position in the online search market by deliberately lowering links to smaller rivals’ sites in its search results.
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The move announced Tuesday follows complaints from rival search engines that Google put them at a disadvantage in both its regular and sponsored search results, by listing links to their sites below references to its own services in an attempt to shut them out of the market.
If the Commission finds that Google has abused its market position, the company could be fined up to 10 percent of its revenue - that would put it on the line for a $2.4 billion fine based on 2009 earnings figures. The Commission has shown resolve in confronting U.S. corporations and only last year concluded a long-running antitrust case involving Microsoft Corp. that lead to over $1 billion of fines.
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