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Online services, job boards and others issuing new complaint against Google for alleged unfair practices

November 12, 2020

A group of 135 Internet companies, including job boards, and 30 industry groups today sent a letter to EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager raising concerns about Google and what they say are anti-competitive practices harming their businesses.

“While we compete amongst ourselves for the best consumer experience, there is one common competitor that does not compete fairly — Google,” according to the letter. “We all face strong competition from Google in our respective search services markets. Google has entered each of these markets by leveraging its unassailable dominance in general Internet search — to gain a competitive head start and quickly gain market shares.”

The letter says Google gains unjustified advantages by preferentially treating its own services within general search results pages by displaying specialized search results in “OneBoxes” that appear above generic search results.

Danish job board operator Jobindex said the letter is a follow-up to a separate letter last year sent to the Commissioner for Competition regarding Google for Jobs. Jobindex noted it believes Google for Jobs is similar to Google Shopping that was fined in 2017 for allegedly abusing its dominant position to promote the shopping service. Google is appealing the fine.

Google refuted allegations that it unfairly favors its own services in a statement to Reuters.