European regulators spell out demands in antitrust case against Google

European regulators are moving forward with their five-year-old antitrust case against Google; they’ve now laid out specific demands for changes to the company’s search rankings, and have established fines for non-compliance.

European regulators have been sensitive to the practices of American Internet companies on the continent, a sensitivity compounded, in this case, by the fact that Google controls 90 percent of the search market in European countries. Google controls only 65 percent of the search market in the U.S.

At the core of the issue is the charge that Google downplays the web services of its rivals in its search results while playing up its own. For example, when a European consumer does a query for “flights to Berlin,” she may see links to Google Flights featured prominently at the top of the page while competing travel services are displayed far below.

The regulators sent a letter describing their demands to both Google and to representatives of European companies that have complained about the search giant’s practices. The letter states that the regulators may compel Google to use the same ranking algorithms for rival services that it does for its own services.

The New York Times reports that the EU may levy fines on revenue generated by Google’s AdWords online advertising business in Europe, citing anonymous sources.

The EU might also fine Google on profits made from Google Shopping in Europe, and from Google searches for products by Europeans, the NYT‘s sources said.

The EU formally accused Google of antitrust violations in mid-April. The EU also said at the time that it was opening a second, related investigation into possible antitrust violations regarding Google’s Android mobile operating system.