Google is likely to face calls for it’s dominant search engine to be broken off into a separate company as a result of ongoing anti-trust investigations in Europe.
According to a Financial Times report, the European Parliament wants Google Search to be broken off from the firm’s other commercial interests.
A draft motion seen by the FT says an “unbundling [of] search engines from other commercial services” could be one way to tackle Google’s dominant position.
According to the report, the European People’s Party and the Socialists – the two main forces in the European Parliament – has given the motion its backing, while a vote could take place as soon as Thursday.
“Unbundling cannot be excluded,” said German MEP Andreas Schwab.
Google has been accused of skewing rankings and favouring its own products (like Play Store listings) to the detriment of competitors within Google Search listings.
European governments have long sought a solution to the Google problem, but such a resolution is unlikely to be met favourably by the US tech giant.
Just recently, the company agreed to a request from a group of German publishers to strip back Google News listings to a headline, omitting the thumbnail and story extract.
The company’s other activities in Europe, such as Street View photography and the public Wi-Fi data its cars collect, have been heavily criticised.
Google has so far declined to comment on the report.
Read more: Google Nexus 9 review
Via: The Next Web
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
