BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union accused Google Inc on Wednesday of cheating competitors by distorting Internet search results in favor of its Google Shopping service and also launched an antitrust probe into its Android mobile operating system.
In a statement, Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the U.S. tech giant had been sent a Statement of Objections -- effectively a charge sheet -- to which it can respond.
"In the case of Google I am concerned that the company has given an unfair advantage to its own comparison shopping service, in breach of EU antitrust rules. Google now has the opportunity to convince the Commission to the contrary. However, if the investigation confirmed our concerns, Google would have to face the legal consequences and change the way it does business in Europe."
"I have also launched a formal antitrust investigation of Google's conduct concerning mobile operating systems, apps and services," Vestager said. "Smartphones, tablets and similar devices play an increasing role in many people's daily lives and I want to make sure the markets in this area can flourish without anticompetitive constraints imposed by any company."
(Reporting by Julia Fioretti and Alastair Macdonald; editing by Robin Emmott)
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