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European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google

Members of the European Parliament have approved a non-binding resolution which calls for Go...
Newstalk
Newstalk

16.37 27 Nov 2014


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European Parliament votes in f...

European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google

Newstalk
Newstalk

16.37 27 Nov 2014


Share this article


Members of the European Parliament have approved a non-binding resolution which calls for Google to break up.

Although the vote has no legal power, it sends a strong message to European regulators - and comes at a time when the European Commission is investigating Google over allegations the company engages in anti-competitive behaviour by favouring its own services over its competitors in its searches.

The EU is considering introducing new rules which would mean the California-based firm would be required to unbundle its search engines from its other commercial services.

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The vote was passed by a strong majority, with 384 voting for, and 174 against. EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager will ultimately decide if the Union will take any action against the company.

Andreas Schwab, the German lawmaker who co-sponsored the bill welcomed the result of the vote, adding: "Monopolies in whatever market have never been useful, neither for consumers nor for the companies."

Google has a 90 percent market share in some European countries. Its closest rival is Microsoft's Bing, it has less than five percent of the European search market. In the US only 68 percent of all internet searches are made through Google.

The European Commission has been investigating Google for four years. The EU's digital commissioner, Guenther Oettinger has opposed the breaking up of Google. The United States government, and industry groups in the US have spoken-out against the proposed break up.


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