Google gets another extension in EU anti-trust case

This is the second extension Google has received after the Commission lodged its case in April.

Specifically, it has been claimed that Google manipulates queries made in its search engine to produce results that favour other Google services, including its own shopping comparison service.

An unidentified Google spokesman told the press yesterday that the European Commission has extended the original deadline for replying to the charges from July 17 to August 31.

The EC antitrust investigation began in 2010, and is considering whether Google took advantage of its dominant position in the search market by promoting its own products, such as shopping search, above those of competitors. “This means that the reply is now due on 31 August”, he said.

The EU confirmed it had agreed to give Google extensions.

“In line with regular follow, the Commission analyzed the explanations for the request”. “As a result, it has granted an extension allowing Google to fully exercise its rights of defense”.

Google has yet to respond to The INQUIRER’s request for comment.

European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s charges in April escalated a five-year investigation that Google has tried to settle three times without success. The European Union antitrust authority has the power to sanction lawbreakers as much as “10 percent of their global turnover”.

“Google now has the opportunity to convince the EC to the contrary”.

“We respectfully but strongly disagree with the need to issue an SO and look forward to making our case over the weeks ahead”, he said at the time. Yelp has been particularly aggressive in campaigning against Google, filing an antitrust complaint against the search giant and funding research that has suggested Google’s policies hurt users.