Several U.S. and European companies have complained about the dominance of Google, the European Union’s new competition commissioner told CNBC on Thursday, one day after antitrust charges were filed against the technology giant.
Margrethe Vestager, a Danish native who took the role in November, said the complaints had been “direct” and “balanced,” with the relevant companies admiring of Google, but also desiring a level playing field.
“A number of the companies who complained about Google are American, but more companies are European. So you find both and you find the people that complain being sort of direct and also very balanced,” she told CNBC Thursday.
Several U.S. and European companies have complained about the dominance of Google, the European Union’s new competition commissioner told CNBC on Thursday, one day after antitrust charges were filed against the technology giant.
Margrethe Vestager, a Danish native who took the role in November, said the complaints had been “direct” and “balanced,” with the relevant companies admiring of Google, but also desiring a level playing field.
“A number of the companies who complained about Google are American, but more companies are European. So you find both and you find the people that complain being sort of direct and also very balanced,” she told CNBC Thursday.
European Union regulators filed charges against Google on Wednesday, alleging that it had abused its dominant position in the Internet search market.
Google currently holds an over-90 percent market share, according to the European Commission, and is accused of favoring its own comparison shopping product over rivals in its Internet search results pages.
Vestager, who was previously the deputy prime minister of Denmark, said that pressure from rival companies had in no way influenced the regulator’s decision to file charges.
“They (Google) used that dominance to promote their own services and you can’t do that in European law,” Vestager, who was previously the deputy prime minister of Denmark, told CNBC on Thursday.
In response to Wednesday’s charges, Google said in a blog post that it “strongly” disagreed with the allegations and would make defend itself in the coming weeks.
Adam Cohen, Google’s head of European economic policy, told CNBC on Wednesday that Google could not “stand still” and must respond to competitive pressures.
Google faces fines of as much as $6.6 billion if the charges are proven.
Vestager was described as a “tough cookie” by a politics professor at the University of Copenhagen quoted in “The Washington Times” newspaper on Thursday.
In conversation with CNBC, Vestager agreed this statement was fair.