Its not always easy being the big guy.
And in Google’s case this certainly rings true.
The European Commission is investigating yet more new claims into the search engine giant that it has abused its dominant position, according to the Guardian.
The French company at the centre of this new row, 1PlusV, a specialist search engine developer, claims it was forced to acquire their technology in order to access ad services but never got the results it paid for.
It also says the internet powerhouse is pushing them and other competing search companies further down their search results lists, resulting in a lower ranking, thus making them less commercially visible online.
Indeed, this appears to be the case. A quick search for the 1PlusV company finds that it doesn’t appear on the first, second or third page of results.
Another website, created by the French developers, EJustice.fr, also complained last year that it wasn’t showing up in Google results and took their case to the EU, the outcome of which is yet to be decided.
If found guilty, the search giant could face a penalty running into millions.
“For EJustice.fr, the consequences have been catastrophic in terms of its traffic, with lasting effects,” the company said in a statement.
Defending its position, the company headed by Eric Schmidt denies any wrongdoing and said it is constantly making changes to its search algorithms which may subsequently cause changes in rankings.
