BRUSSELS — The European Union charged Google on Wednesday with abusing its overwhelming dominance in Internet searches and opened a probe into its Android mobile system, raising the stakes in the five-year antitrust battle.
The move could lead to billions in fines for Google if the case shows that the way it does business in the 28-country bloc is illegal, as well as years of legal wrangling.
The EU can impose fines of 10 percent on annual revenue, or some $6 billion, and force the company to overhaul its system for recommending websites in Europe.
The EU executive commission said it found that Google "gives systematic favorable treatment" to its Google Shopping at the expense of others in its general search results.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition commissioner, said that was a problem because Google is so dominant in Europe. It has a market share of over 90 percent of Internet searches in the EU, compared with about 70 percent in the U.S.
"It is not based on the merits of Google Shopping that Google Shopping always comes up first," Vestager said. "Dominant companies have a responsibility not to abuse their powerful market position."
She said her chief goal was to make sure multinationals do not artificially deny European consumers as wide a choice as possible or stifle innovation. She noted that one in four companies complaining about Google were U.S. rivals.
Read Thursday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.