The European Commission filed antitrust charges against Google Wednesday, alleging that the company "abused its dominant position" in the Internet search market. The tech giant hit back, however, saying it will respond to the charges in the coming weeks.
In what it called a Statement of Objections, the European Union's executive arm said Google had "systematically" favored its own comparison shopping product in its general search results pages.
The EU's Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of competition policy, said she was concerned that Google had given an "unfair advantage" to its own shopping service, in breach of EU antitrust rules.
"Google now has the opportunity to convince the Commission to the contrary," she said in a statement Wednesday. "However, if the investigation confirmed our concerns, Google would have to face the legal consequences and change the way it does business in Europe."