European Commission examining 3 complaints against Google

The European Commission is examining three complaints against Google related to the internet major's business practices, received from three online companies.

The three firms that have complained are UK price comparison site Foundem, French legal search engine ejustice.Fr and Microsoft's Ciao! from Bing (a German shopping site).

In a statement released today, the Commission, which is the executive arm of the European Union, said it is examining the complaints against Google.

"The Commission can confirm that it has received three complaints against Google which it is examining. The Commission has not opened a formal investigation for the time being," the statement noted.

The antitrust regulator also said that as a routine, it has informed Google earlier this month and asked the company to comment on the allegations.

On Tuesday, Google said it has been notified by the Commission about the three complaints against the company, filed by Foundem, ejustice.Fr and Ciao!.

"Though each case raises slightly different issue, the question they ultimately pose is whether Google is doing anything to choke off competition or hurt our users and partners," the internet major said in a blog post.

"This is not the case. We always try to listen carefully if someone has a real concern and we work hard to put our users' interests first and to compete fair and square in the market," it added.

Google noted that it would be providing feedback and additional information on these complaints.

"We are confident that our business operates in the interests of users and partners, as well as in line with European competition law," it added.

According to the internet major, "Foundem - a member of an organisation called ICOMP which is funded partly by Microsoft - argues that our algorithms demote their site in our results because they are a vertical search engine and so a direct competitor to Google.

"ejustice.Fr's complaint seems to echo these concerns."

Regarding Ciao!, Google pointed out that it started receiving complaints about its standard terms and conditions. Ciao! was acquired by Microsoft in 2008 and was renamed as Ciao! from Bing.

"They initially took their case to the German competition authority, but it now has been transferred to Brussels," it added.