Google Says EC Complaint That It Favors Own Comparison Shopping Service Doesn't Fit Reality
The European Commission's argument that Google favors its own comparison shopping service in search results "just doesn't fit the reality of how most people shop online," said company General Counsel Kent Walker in a Thursday blog post. Last year, the…
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EC filed its case, saying it was concerned online users didn't see most relevant results because Google favored its own comparison shopping product first (see 1508270026). In July's supplementary statement of objections, the EC said it strengthened its case, and the company filed a response Thursday. "Consumers don’t just look for products on a search engine, then click on a price comparison site, and then click again to visit merchant sites," said Walker. "They reach merchant websites in many different ways: via general search engines, specialist search services, merchant platforms, social-media sites, and online ads served by various companies." He said recent German and U.S. studies show online shoppers first go to Amazon, then to search engines like Google's and then to price comparison sites or to retailers. "Ultimately, we can’t agree with a case that lacks evidence and would limit our ability to serve our users, just to satisfy the interests of a small number of websites," he said. Google also filed responses to EC's concerns about Google's AdSense service, which the commission said placed restrictions on third-party sites to show search ads from Google competitors. Walker also said Google plans to file a response to EC's concerns about its Android operating system. Computer & Communications Industry Association Europe Vice President James Waterworth said in a statement that regulators need to look at the market holistically rather than from the perspective of several struggling companies. "The complete picture shows consumers have an increasing choice of products and prices and that investment is booming,” he said. But Thomas Vinje, counsel to FairSearch, a group representing Google's competitors, in a statement that consumers "do not get the best, most relevant results" from Google but rather results from advertisers that pay the search company the most money. He said the EC, not Google, has consumer best interests in mind.