It isn’t surprising that Google is facing even more antitrust scrutiny in Europe, this time on two different fronts. According to Reuters =, Google is confronting an examination of its “collection and use of data.” Rivals of Google have formally complained to the European Commission that Google’s business practices, in regards to Google’s shopping comparison engine, continue to harm them in violation of the terms of an antitrust settlement made in 2017.
According to Reuters, a document it had seen “shows the EU’s focus is on [Google’s use of] data related to local search services, online advertising, online ad targeting services, login services, web browsers and others.” CNN independently confirmed the investigation and also said it involves Facebook’s data practices as well.
A separate investigation is already under way that is looking at local and travel search competition in Europe.
Antitrust investigations of the past have focused on specific market segments or Google practices, including shopping search, Android app pre-installation, AdSense contracts and browser-search engine choice. At this point, the EC fined Google over $9 billion for alleged “abuse of market position” and related antitrust violations. Google is appealing most of these fines and decisions. Even then, all the fines haven’t really had any ultimate impact on the company’s revenue or share price.