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Google could be changing its ad approach — late last week the Internet giant proposed an antitrust
settlement to the European Commission that puts new rules on how it can display commercial
search results in the EU.
"It forces Google to put competitive services more visibly on its own site. Google has a
tremendous amount of control over the search market, because that's where everyone goes
to search for things." (Via Bloomberg)
The stakes are high for Google. A settlement over potentially anti-competitive search practices
could mean ducking fines as high as $5 billion.
Per the agreement with EU regulators, Google would display "alternatives" to EU visitiors
alongside its own shopping results. Re/code has screenshots of the new system — competitors
would enjoy better billing on its web and mobile apps, and in flight search results.
The 93-page settlement explains Google would also make its adsense and adwords products
easier to implement on websites, and let retailers opt out of Google's specialized commercial
search results without impacting their organic Google rankings.
But the proposed changes have yet to mollify search and market competition advocates.
Market watchdog ICOMP doesn't like that Google is still trying to ram proposals through the
Commission on its own. It warned "A settlement without third party review is a massive failure."
FairSearch represents a consortium that includes Microsoft, Expedia and Nokia. It has no problem
with Google publishing its proposals, "but will continue to stress the importance of
market testing to demonstrate the effectiveness of these commitments to restore competition
to search."
The news comes as Google navigates other legal trouble in the EU — Earlier this month French
regulators made Google add a mandatory announcement to its French homepage, explaining how its
unified privacy policy violated French privacy laws. (Via GigaOM)
Meanwhile, the fate of Google's ad settlement depends on the European Commission: its members
are expected to vote on the proposal in the coming months.