After last week's fallout over Buzz, the folks at Google must now be checking their back for a bull's-eye, especially considering this week's one-two punch from Europe.
European regulators opened their first antitrust investigation of Google with a letter asking the company to explain how it ranks search results and advertising. The letter followed complaints from European businesses such as Foundem, a price comparison site, and Ciao, another price comparison site owned by Microsoft. Those companies--Foundem in particular--have long complained that Google penalizes their Web sites in search results under competitive pressure.
Google confirmed that it has received an inquiry from European regulators but denied any wrongdoing. Google's share of the search and search advertising markets in Europe is even higher--around 90 percent--than it is in the U.S., where Google has come to know its regulatory counterparts quite well during the first year of the Obama administration.
In the second hit, an Italian court handed out guilty verdicts on for three of four Google employees charged in a case concerning a 2006 Google Video clip posted of classmates taunting a teenager with autism. The judge in the case gave suspended six-month jail sentences for two current employees and one former employee. They weren't convicted on defamation charges, though, and a fourth Google employee was cleared of all charges. In a Google blog post, the company criticized the decision and said it will appeal.
European regulators opened their first antitrust investigation of Google with a letter asking the company to explain how it ranks search results and advertising. The letter followed complaints from European businesses such as Foundem, a price comparison site, and Ciao, another price comparison site owned by Microsoft. Those companies--Foundem in particular--have long complained that Google penalizes their Web sites in search results under competitive pressure.
Google confirmed that it has received an inquiry from European regulators but denied any wrongdoing. Google's share of the search and search advertising markets in Europe is even higher--around 90 percent--than it is in the U.S., where Google has come to know its regulatory counterparts quite well during the first year of the Obama administration.
In the second hit, an Italian court handed out guilty verdicts on for three of four Google employees charged in a case concerning a 2006 Google Video clip posted of classmates taunting a teenager with autism. The judge in the case gave suspended six-month jail sentences for two current employees and one former employee. They weren't convicted on defamation charges, though, and a fourth Google employee was cleared of all charges. In a Google blog post, the company criticized the decision and said it will appeal.
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