The European Commission has made a formal antitrust complaint against Google and its ad business, saying that its preliminary view is that “only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services would address its competition concerns.” It’s a significant move targeting the main source of the search giant’s revenue.
“Our preliminary concern is that Google may have used its market position to favor its own intermediation services,” the Commission’s executive vice-president in charge of competition policy Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
The statement of objections issued today is an important step in the EU’s investigation. Google will now have the opportunity to reply in writing and request a hearing, after which the…
