Google’s revised proposals in the antitrust case against it don’t go far enough, the EU’s competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia has warned.
In October, it looked as if search giant Google and the EU had reached a key moment in resolving the case surrounding Google’s search technologies.
Google had proposed making links to rivals significantly more visible and making a larger space of the Google results page dedicated to rivals.
However, according to Reuters, in a Spanish radio interview Alumnia is reported to have said: “The latest offer as submitted by Google in October … the latest proposals are not acceptable in the sense that they are not proposals that can eliminate our concerns regarding competition.”
The proposals include making rivals’ logos appear next to results links and dynamic text associated with each rival link.
The proposals also include an auction mechanism to allow search providers to bid for each specific query.
However, if Google and the EU fail to reach an agreement, the internet search giant faces a potential fine of up to US$5bn.
European Parliament, Strasbourg, image via Shutterstock
