By Rolfe Winkler
Google Inc. escaped a U.S. antitrust investigation nearly
unscathed in 2013, but the company isn't out of the regulatory
woods.
Disclosures that some staffers at the U.S. Federal Trade
Commission had recommended charging Google with violating antitrust
laws are adding fuel to a long-running European probe into the same
practices.
U.S. rivals continue to complain to regulators about some of
Google's search and advertising practices. Meanwhile, Google may
face a new antitrust fight, as regulators probe how Google manages
its Android mobile-operating system.
An FTC staff report in 2012 detailed several ways in which
Google appeared to have altered search results to favor its own
services, although staffers in the agency's bureau of competition
didn't recommend filing suit over those issues, The Wall Street
Journal reported Thursday. The commission concluded its
investigation in early 2013 without taking action.
Google executives have long argued that their responsibility is
to provide relevant search results, not promote websites, and if
users don't like those results there are other search engines "just
a click away."
Following the FTC's decision, Google's rivals turned their
attention to Europe, where officials have been investigating
similar complaints against Google for five years and have rejected
three Google settlement proposals. European Commission antitrust
officials are expected to file formal charges against Google about
its search practices, perhaps as soon as next month.
Regulators in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Taiwan and India also
are investigating Google's business practices, according to the
company's annual financial filing. Until now, though, Google has
largely beaten back regulatory reviews of its business practices;
in 2014, attorneys general in Texas and Ohio closed
investigations.
One EU lawmaker said Friday that commission officials should
consider the newly revealed evidence from the U.S. case in weighing
charges against Google. "This new... evidence is crucial and could
not come at better time," said Ramon Tremosa I Balcells, a lawmaker
who represents the Spanish region of Catalonia.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt on Friday declined to
comment on the European investigation or the potential impact of
the U.S. disclosures. "At end of the day, the FTC commission made
their decision and we agree with that," Mr. Schmidt said in an
interview.
Google rivals haven't let up on the search issue. Local-services
guide Yelp Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have been particularly active
behind the scenes, trying to coordinate opposition to the search
giant. Yelp last year launched a website, FocusOnTheUser.eu, that
charges Google with favoring its own services in search results and
asks website visitors to contact European legislators. The company
may be preparing to air similar objections in the U.S. A Yelp
executive has registered the ".com" version of the same website,
where today a message says the website is "coming soon."
But some observers think the complaints are misplaced. Danny
Sullivan, the founding editor of Search Engine Land and a close
Google watcher, says criticizing Google for favoring its own
services is "a waste of time, like complaining that one TV network
doesn't favor another TV network's show enough."
Beyond search, other complaints loom about Google's business
practices. In Europe, antitrust regulators have begun an inquiry
into whether Google improperly requires the makers of devices that
use its Android mobile-operating system to use certain Google
services. Google makes Android available free to makers of
smartphones and tablets as a way to deliver services like search
and YouTube, which generate advertising revenue, and the Play
Store, where Google makes money selling apps and games.
Google rivals including Microsoft and Oracle Corp. last year
filed a formal complaint with the European Commission, claiming
that makers of Android devices that want popular Google apps,
including Maps, are required to preload a suite of Google mobile
services and give them prominent placement.
The Wall Street Journal first reported secret contracts that
Google had drawn up laying out those requirements.
Android powers 65% of smartphones in Western Europe, according
to Strategy Analytics, slightly lower than its global market share.
U.S. regulators are not known to have looked closely at
Android.
Mr. Sullivan, while skeptical of the antitrust claims around
search, says Google "deserves attention" from antitrust regulators
on its Android dealings. "I think that's much harder to defend," he
says.
Google has another victory to point to. A Google spokesman said
on Friday that the company was informed last year by the FTC that
the Commission had closed an investigation, first reported in 2013,
into its display advertising practices.
Tom Fairless contributed to this article.
Write to Tom Fairless at tom.fairless@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for Google, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US38259P5089
Access Investor Kit for Google, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US38259P7069
Access Investor Kit for Oracle Corp.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US68389X1054
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires