Google Pushes Back Against EU Publisher PR Offensive
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt took to the Google Europe Blog this weekend to defend his company against a Europe-wide ad campaign that asserts Google has abused its dominant market position in search. It’s essentially a public appeal on the same terms being argued to the European…
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EU-Google Antitrust Deal May Be Collapsing
Since the first Google antitrust settlement proposal was announced in 2013 the company’s rivals and critics have complained loudly that it doesn’t go far enough to remedy what they see as Google’s unjustified “diversion” of their traffic to Google’s own…
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Google Wins Round Against German Publishers, Who Vow To Fight On
The convoluted saga of Google News in Germany took another turn on Friday when regulators declined to pursue an antitrust claim against the company brought by “VG Media,” a consortium of German publishers including publishing giant Axel Springer. Reuters covered the decision but…
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Yelp Joins Effort To Undo Current Google-EU Antitrust Settlement
Yelp has been an increasingly vocal critic of Google for several years. Now it has joined a group of companies opposing the European Commission’s current antitrust settlement proposal with Google. Originally Google and Yelp were partners. Google unsuccessfully tried to buy Yelp for a rumored…
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Google Comparison Ads Under Fire In UK
The UK financial services industry regulator Financial Conduct Authority is taking a closer look at Google Comparison Ads. UK price comparison sites have complained that Google is unfairly competing with them by placing its own “product” at the top of search results. Comparison Ads,…
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Is Google’s European Antitrust Settlement In Jeopardy?
Widespread dissatisfaction among public and political figures with the existing antitrust settlement between Google and the European Commission appears to be putting the existing settlement in danger. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the run up to this week’s European Parliament…
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New “Open Internet Project” Seeks To Derail Google-EU Antitrust Settlement
Frustrated by what it sees as the European Commission’s capitulation to Google a new group called the “Open Internet Project” (OIP) seeks to derail the current Google antitrust settlement or create a new investigation. A mixture of French and German publishers and companies are…
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The Google State Of The Union: Strong Yet Vulnerable
Earlier today Google published its annual Founders’ Letter. This is a kind of “Google State of the Union” missive that Google has published annually since it went public. Many bloggers picked up on the following remark in the document penned by Google CEO Larry Page: “[I]n…
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India Opens Second Google Antitrust Investigation Over AdWords
Google is in the midst of an antitrust, anti-competition investigation in India. Not long ago the company was fined by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for not cooperating in that investigation: “not providing information and documents required.” Now a separate…
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Secret Contracts Keep Google In Control Of Mobile Search Argues Lawsuit
A would be class action lawsuit was filed last week against Google in Federal Court in California. The action seeks to resurrect some of the themes and arguments raised in the now settled FTC antitrust case against the company. While repeating familiar…
Report: Google Now Master Of Lobbying, Backroom Dealing
An article in the Washington Post asserts that Google has now become a master lobbyist and behind-the-scenes manipulator in Washington. It details the company’s increase in campaign contributions and outreach efforts to influence legislators. The message of the lengthy article is that Google…
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The War On Links
In case you didn’t notice, we are waging a war over links. Some would say that SEOs are at war with search engines, but I disagree. Search engines and SEOs have a symbiotic relationship; and without meaning to, we’ve killed the value of the link. The link, once a simple connector from…
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EU Antitrust Chief Says Google Settlement Essentially Done
Amid criticism from politicians and Google’s critics, EU antitrust chief Joaquín Almunia has essentially said that the current version of Google’s antitrust settlement proposal is a done deal. While he didn’t rule out changes definitively he seems to think complainants’…
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EU Settlement Nearly Done, Google Antitrust Drama Shifts To India
Although the Google antitrust settlement in Europe isn’t final it appears we’re in the final minutes of the final act. There still may be a surprise or two in store but we mostly know how this story is going to end. Now it appears the Google antitrust drama is shifting to India, where…
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Google Publishes Full Text Of EU Antitrust Agreement
This afternoon on its European Blog Google’s General Counsel Kent Walker exposed the full text of the company’s third-proposed and tentatively accepted antitrust settlement agreement with European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. Almunia previously declined to make the full…
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Will 11th Hour Objections Derail The Google-EU Antitrust Settlement?
When the European Commission recently announced yet another antitrust settlement with Google the matter appeared to be coming to an end. This was the third proposed settlement from Google but indications from EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia suggested that it was essentially final and…
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Wow! See How Much Screen Real Estate Google Is Giving Rivals In Its EU Antitrust Settlement
Google’s finally reached a proposed agreement with the European Union over antitrust charges. Judging from screenshots the EU has released, it will give Google rivals unprecedented positioning in Google’s results, sometimes for free, sometimes for a fee. Consider how the EU is saying…
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It’s Done: Google Settles Search Antitrust Case In Europe
Roughly a year after Google settled an antitrust investigation with the US Federal Trade Commission, Bloomberg is reporting that Google and the European Commission have reached a final settlement that would end the regulator’s antitrust search investigation against the company. According to…
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Report: Google Close (Again) To EU Antitrust Settlement
The third time may be the charm. According to Reuters Google is (once again) “close to settling a three-year antitrust probe by European regulators after it offered ‘much better’ concessions” to the European Commission (EC). However Google has been here before. Two previous…
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EU Wants More Search Concessions, Google Defies French Authority
Round and round she goes. The European Commission is seeking a final round of “concessions” from Google in an 11th hour effort to settle potential antitrust claims against the company. EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia made public statements asserting that Google needs to…
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