Google: EU’s antitrust allegations are ‘incorrect’

A blog post from the search giant’s general counsel also describes regulators’ proposal to fix perceived problems as ‘peculiar and problematic.’

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Google has officially responded to a demand from European Union regulators that it change the way it displays results in shopping-related searches. Its answer: The EU is “incorrect.”

In April, EU officials filed a “statement of objections” arguing that the company’s practice of displaying paid ads in search results had diverted attention away from other options. It’s “anti-competitive,” the EU claimed.

Google pushed back at the time. The company issued its official response Thursday, however, and its senior vice president and general counsel, Kent Walker, posted an explanation on the Google Europe Blog. In it, he writes:

Our response provides evidence and data to show why the SO’s concerns are unfounded. We use traffic analysis to rebut claims that our ad displays and specialized organic results harmed competition by preventing shopping aggregators from reaching consumers.

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