MPs call for Investigation Amid “Growing Evidence” That Google Tampers with SEO Results
A sub-section of MPs are calling for an investigation into search engine giant Google’s market practices, after what is claimed to be “growing evidence” that the company is abusing its market position to hurt other search firms.
Google is already under investigation by the EU over anti-competition complaints lodged by Foundem and Microsoft, however some MPs, including Tory MP Dominic Raab, claim that that Government shouldn’t wait for the EU report. He comments that they should conduct their own rather than wait on the “cumbersome, clumping, clumsy conclusions of the European Commission to preserve our own free market at home.”
“Businesses can hold, secure or maintain a dominant position, but not abuse it, and there is growing evidence that that is exactly what Google is doing,” Raab continued.
He accuses Ofcom of complacency surrounding the issue, stating that the OFT don’t act until receiving a complaint. He says “That is all very well, but customers may be oblivious to what Google is surreptitiously doing.”
Culture Minister Ed Vaizey states the EU investigation is “an adequate remedy at the moment.”
