US Internet giant Google will face formal charges if it fails to improve its proposals to the European Union (EU) to resolve anti-trust complaints over its search engine, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said yesterday.
Google previously avoided billions in (potential) fines when it struck a deal in February with the European Commission, the EU executive branch, over charges that google was squeezing out competitors in Europe.
Google agreed at the time to give equal prominence to rival services in its search results after competitors — including Microsoft and TripAdvisor — argued the company has abused its dominant position in the European market, where it accounts for 90 per cent of traffic.
But the deal collapsed when the commission received a flurry of new complaints.
