By: Aseem Gaurav, March 31, 2011 (New Delhi)
Microsoft has filed a formal complaint with the EU Commission, which announced a formal investigation into Google in November, over what it sees as anti-competitive tactics used by Internet giant Google.
It is the first time Microsoft has gone public with submissions to European Union inspectors probing the online search giant.
The move heightens the intensity of the probe against Google launched by EU regulators end November, amid accusations it rigged the search market for consumers.
Until now most of complaints against Google have come from small Internet companies saying that Google’s search engine unfairly promotes its own products, like Google Product Search, a price comparison site, over rival offerings.
The US technology firm’s complaint with European Union regulators also assumes significance as Google is already under increased scrutiny back in the US — from the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and among state attorneys general.
In its complaint, Microsoft had about a half dozen concerns, including anticompetitive practices by Google in search, online advertising, and smartphone software. It says Google unfairly hinders the ability of search competitors from examining and indexing information that Google controls, like YouTube.
Microsoft says such restraints undermine competition and in turn prevents consumers from wider choice and better prices for online advertisers.
In a blog post, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith outlined the following:
Google is “walling off” access to content and data that competitors need.
Google has about 95 percent of the search market in Europe.
Google is restricting the indexing of YouTube for rival search results.
Google blocked Windows Phones from operating properly with YouTube by restricting data.
Google allows Android and Apple phones to access data for rating, favorites and categories.
The search giant is blocking access to content owned by book publishers.
Google is making it more expensive to run campaigns on competitive search tools.
Google is even restricting its customers’—namely, advertisers’—access to their own data.
