The European Union’s Commissioner for Competition on Monday said regulators are moving forward with a probe into Google’s practices surrounding its Android operating system and AdSense advertising platform.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the E.U. is “advancing” its investigation, which could mean added charges against Google from European regulators.
In April 2015, Vestager filed charges against the tech giant after the E.U. executive commission said it found Google gave “systematic favorable treatment” to its own Google Shopping results. Vestager said the findings were a problem because Google already held an extremely dominant position in European Internet searches.
“Dominant companies have a responsibility not to abuse their powerful market position,” Vestager said at the time.
The E.U. also opened an investigation into Google’s Android practices last April following allegations that the company was violating competition rules by obstructing the use of competing operating systems, applications and services. The investigation was also sought to determine whether Google prevents certain website operators from placing competing ads on their sites.
On Monday, Vestager said the investigation remains a high priority and noted the E.U. is looking into “questions about tying,” where Google apps come preinstalled on Android devices, according to the report. The E.U. is also soliciting information from companies about Google’s advertising practices, the Wall Street Journal said.
The news comes on the heels of a March decision from Russia’s Arbitration Court in Moscow that shot down Google’s appeal in an anti-monopoly case related to its Android practices.
The appeals court said it “fully supported” the decision of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), which found Google guilty of violating the country’s anti-monopoly laws in September. Russian regulators said Google ran afoul of Russian competition laws by mandating the installation of certain Google apps and its search engine and dictating their “priority” placement on the main screen of Android devices.
Yandex, the company that filed the original complaint against Google in Russia, also took its case to the E.U. in November following the FAS’s initial ruling against the tech giant.
At the time, Yandex said in a statement it believed Russia’s finding against Google to be “instructive, and [] a conclusion that can readily be adopted in other jurisdictions, including the EU.”
Filed Under: Industry regulations