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EU parliament backs resolution on Google break-up
2014-11-27 14:13:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) The European Parliament has called for the EU to consider forcing Google to separate its search engine from its other business activities. In a resolution passed by 384 votes for versus 174 against, the MEPs said "unbundling" the search activities from Google's other commercial activities should be considered in the long term, if the European Commission is unable to resolve satisfactorily its current competition investigation into Google's search practices. The EC has been under pressure from the media and publishing sectors to ensure that Google does not give priority to its own content services in its search engine results and that other online information providers have equal access to marketing over Google. The company has offered a number of changes to its practices to avoid fines for abuse of its dominant position, but the EC has been unable to reach a market consensus on whether this is enough. The parliamentary resolution welcomed the new Commission's pledge to investigate further the search engine practices. The non-binding resolution underlined that "the online search market is of particular importance in ensuring competitive conditions within the digital single market" in the EU, and if the EC cannot ensure competition rules are respected, it should "consider proposals with the aim of unbundling search engines from other commercial services" in the long run.
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