Google rejects EU antitrust charges

The 150-page document cites the power of giants like Amazon and eBay as evidence that the market for online shopping is thriving and dismisses rivals’ claims that the search engine has intentionally quashed their traffic. “On the contrary, showing ads based on structured data provided by merchants demonstrably improves ad quality and makes it easier for consumers to find what they’re looking for”, Kent Walker, Google’s SVP & General Counsel wrote in a blog post.

By standing its ground in its formal response, Google leaves the daunting decision to further pursue one of the world’s most far-reaching companies to EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a steely Dane and Europe’s top anti-trust regulator.

Google has rejected the EU’s objections to how it displays shopping links in its search results as “wrong as a matter of fact, law and economics”. It said the last decade had seen traffic to price comparison websites from Google rise by 227pc, and denied that competition in the market had been stifled, claiming that consumers were increasingly going directly to Amazon and eBay to buy goods.

Following the European Union’s formal accusation of antitrust practices by Google, the company has now officially responded.

The European Commission’s patience with the company snapped in April after three settlement bids failed to satisfy critics. Google executives have said these firms pose a new competitive threat, which undermines the case that Google has harmed comparison-shopping companies like Nextag and LeGuide.

Meanwhile, the Commission is still investigating a number of other concerns relating to Google’s search and advertising businesses.