The European Union's antitrust chief, Joaquin Almunia, has reportedly said that his office is continuing to investigate antitrust concerns about Google Inc. During a recent speech on digital media in London, Almunia said that the EU investigation is still at an early stage but that officials were aware of the 'importance of search to a competitive online marketplace'.
Almunia added that his office is investigating allegations of anti-competitive conduct in the search business. The antitrust chief has said that he is looking 'very carefully' at allegations that Google Inc. unjustly demotes rivals' sites in search results. A Google spokesman confirmed that the company is aware of the continuing inquiry and has been cooperating with the commission.
In February 2009, Google revealed, in a blog post, that the EU had begun investigating the company for possible anticompetitive behaviour. The EC investigation was triggered by complaints filed by eJustice.fr, a French legal search engine; Ciao, a German search site that has been acquired by Microsoft Corp; and Foundem, a UK price comparison site. However, according to Google, its search results are entirely controlled by algorithms that demote sites with little useful content for users. Low rankings matter because a higher ranking in a Google search drives higher volumes of traffic to websites.
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