There is more than a touch of the old world versus the new in the battle between the European Union and Google. Having been fined the equivalent of a record $2.7 billion for the abuse of its market leader position in tweaking online shopping promotions, it remains to be seen how Google reacts to a market across the Atlantic attempting to make a level playing field. The company’s reported misbehaviour is to do with highlighting its own online shopping service above that of rivals. However, Google’s propensity to project its ads on page one and push rivals down to page four does seem to be killing the opposition.
This is not the first occasion on which an American technology giant is running into headwinds in Europe. It may be an interesting thought and yet it would be too simplistic to believe the business ecosystem in Europe is highly regulated while the one “across the pond” is a kind of unregulated jungle where the fittest survive. However, if Google is forced to make changes to the way it bundles services and promotes its digital advertising in order to stay in Europe and do business in fair competition, it would only serve to make it a more ethical multinational. It is also moot whether bureaucratic tweaking of the marketplace will lead to the ideal of an equitable marketplace. The world is still on a learning curve when it comes to the digital economy and so long as EU’s action is only market regulation and not a witch hunt, there could be a valuable lesson to be learnt.
