GOOGLE ACCUSSED OF MANIPULATING SEARCH RESULTS

Search giant, Google, are being investigated by the European Commission this week as they have been accussed by rival companies of unfairly skewing search results and could be fined up to ten percent of its annual revenue.

Reportedly a British comparison site and a French serach engine have accussed Google of submerging their listings in the search results and if this is found to be true Google could lose up to $2.4billion - up to ten percent of its annual revenue.

Google's search market share in the UK is at 90 per cent and are suceptible to anti-trust and anti-competition complaints. The European Commission who are investigating Google - the same commission that fined Intel a record €1 billion for anticompetitive behaviour and forced Microsoft to offer users a choice in browsers on PC's.

European Commission will seek an explanation from Google as to why the complainants aren't ranked in search results and determine whether any omission from results is deliberate or a part of Google's algorithm.

Google denys any allegations of search tampering but it is still evident that rivals seem to feel Google are gathering too much power over the market.

by Richard Armitage