The European Union accused Google Inc on Wednesday of cheating competitors by distorting Internet search results in favor of its Google Shopping service and also launched an antitrust probe into its Android mobile operating system. In a statement, Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the U.S. tech giant had been sent a Statement of Objections -- effectively a charge sheet -- to which it can respond. "In the case of Google I am concerned that the company has given an unfair advantage to its own comparison shopping service, in breach of EU antitrust rules. Google now has the opportunity to convince the Commission to the contrary.



More...