James Delahunty
12 Oct 2013 13:19
Brazil's competition watchdog will investigate potential anticompetitive practices by the Google, following complaints form Microsoft and domestic businesses.
The complaints are very similar to those that prompted an EU anti-trust probe into Google's business practices that is just now approaching resolution. Among those who complained to Brazil's antitrust group, Cade, are Microsoft and some domestic Brazilian companies.
Microsoft accuses Google of obstructing advertising campaigns across multiple search engines, giving an unfair advantage to its own Adwords business.
Buscapé and Bondfardo, two Brazilian price comparison outfits, is accusing Google of reproducing reviews from their users without allowing competing services to reuse information on the Google Shopping website. They also accuse Google of giving unfair prominence to Google Shopping in search results by displaying photos and other information alongside the search results.
It is this favouritism to its own non-Search service that convinced the European Commission to initiate its case against Google.