Google fired its first shots in a competition battle with Brussels yesterday, describing the European Commission’s allegations it abused its dominant position in internet searches as “wrong as a matter of fact, law, and economics”.
The internet group said it had more than tripled web traffic directed to rival shopping sites over the past decade, as it responded to charges levelled this year.
The commission indicated that it was prepared to fight a lengthy battle after it handed the company a statement of objections — the precursor to a full competition investigation — in April. It accused Google of cheating consumers by displaying its own shopping comparison service, Google Shopping, more prominently than rival services.
Google responded formally in a 150-page document. The commission will consider the response before deciding whether to launch a full inquiry.
Kent Walker, Google’s general counsel, said: “We’ve taken seriously the concerns in the European Commission’s statement of objections that our innovations are anti-competitive. The response we filed today shows why we believe those allegations are incorrect, and why we believe that Google increases choice for European consumers and offers valuable opportunities for businesses of all sizes.
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“Economic data spanning more than a decade, an array of documents, and statements from complainants all confirm that product search is robustly competitive.”
Mr Walker said that over the past ten years, the search engine generated 20 billion free clicks for the shopping comparison sites listed in the commission’s statement of objections. Traffic to those sites from Google increased by 227 per cent on average, he said.
Mr Walker said that the commission had not considered the impact of big online retailers such as Amazon and eBay. “The ways people search for, compare, and buy products are rapidly evolving,” he said.
“Users on desktop and mobile devices often want to go straight to trusted merchants who have established an online presence.
Google accounts for about nine out of ten internet searches in Europe. The commission’s proceedings are likely to drag on for years and could result in a fine of $6.6 billion.