In a latest display of its rising concern for dominance of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the world wide web, the European Parliament is likely to attack the search engine giant through a draft resolution aimed at “unbundling search engines from other commercial services”, according to a report on Friday by Reuters. The draft seen by Reuters indicates that the European Parliament is counting on such an action as a “potential long-term solution” to its increasing alarm over Google’s near monopoly of the search market, which controls approximately 90% of European market for the internet industry.
While the draft does not specifically mention Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), it is the search engine likely to be most affected once the draft takes the form of a legislation. The European Parliament per se has no official power to create law, it only has the authority to approve or disapprove legislations initiated by the European Commission. The Financial Times, however, notes that the Parliament has an increasing level of influence over the Commission, which has been running after the search giant with various complaints over the last five years. In particular, the European Court of Justice has slapped Google with a “right to be forgotten” ruling that requires the search engine to delete links from the results of search queries when a user find such links objectionable.
Historically, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has been at the receiving end of various complaints, such as the criticism that it is taking advantage of monopoly by manipulating search results, allegedly ranking its businesses higher than its competitors. The draft motion requiring the separation of search engine functionality from commercial interests, it is argued, would render a more neutral results in search queries.
Google has also been assailed for privacy policies which has been seen as confusing users regarding how data will be used. Its tax policies, which has also been labeled as “immoral” on account of its offshore diversion of funds. German MEP Andreas Schwab noted the impossibility of excluding the split-up of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) as an option, while his counterpart, Spanish MEP Ramon Tremosa asserted that since Google can not be asked to reveal its algorithm, the only option left is to split the company up.
This article has been written by Nonito Guntan.
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