Google facing antitrust charges by European Commission

BRUSSELS, April 15 (UPI) -- The European Commission is set to charge Google Inc. with antitrust charges for using its commanding position as a search engine to promote its own services.

European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, is expected to make an announcement to her fellow E.U. commissioners in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday -- ending a five-year investigation in what would be the biggest legal battle in the region since the commission took on Microsoft Corp. about a decade ago.

Google holds about a 90 percent share of the European Internet search market. If the European Commission succeeds, the company faces a large fine and could be forced to change business practices to give competitors greater representation in search results.

"If you are dominant in Europe, you are not allowed to tie and bundle your other services to that dominant business to the detriment of your competitors," Michael Weber, a director of the online mapping company Hot-Map.com, told The Wall Street Journal. "But that's exactly what Google's doing."

Google sent an internal memo to employees stating it was expecting the commission to file a statement of objections about the company's search practices and that the company has a "very strong case" against the potential charges. The company also said it expects an investigation into Android, Google's smartphone software.