A five-year investigation by the EU into various aspects of Google’s business resulted in surprisingly narrow charges in April that focused exclusively on its comparison-shopping service. Experts have suggested that the EU might seek to close that case before filing any fresh charges, but Ms Vestager warned that a ruling in that case might not be easily applied to related markets being examined, indicating that fresh charges could be necessary.

Android probe ‘high priority’

‘The shopping case may have similarities when we eventually look at maps and travel and a number of other related services, because the complaints sort of tell the same story,’ she said. ‘But there is no such thing as you have done one, you’ve done them all. You can’t do that.’ Ms Vestager described a probe of Google’s conduct regarding Android as a ‘high priority’, while EU regulators are also ‘trying to move forward’ separate probes into allegations that Google abuses its dominance in advertising contracts with website operators and copies content from rival sites.

Google: EU lacks legal justification

In a formal response, Google said the EU failed to provide sufficient legal justification for its demands and misconstrued Google’s impact on rival shopping-comparison services. Source: Wall Street Journal