- lowering the ranking of unpaid search results of competing services which are specialised in providing users with specific online content such as price comparisons (so-called vertical search services) and- by according preferential placement to the results of its own vertical search services in order to shut out competing services. The Commission will also look into allegations that Google- lowered the 'Quality Score' for sponsored links of competing vertical search services. The Quality Score is one of the factors that determine the price paid to Google by advertisers (The Quality Score influences the likelihood of an ad to be displayed by Google and its ranking. If two advertisers are using the same key words, the site which has a lower Quality Score will have to offer a higher price to rank at the same place).- The Commission's probe will additionally focus on allegations that Google imposes exclusivity obligations on advertising partners, preventing them from placing certain types of competing ads on their web sites, as well as on computer and software vendors, with the aim of shutting out competing search tools. Finally, it will investigate- suspected restrictions on the portability of online advertising campaign data to competing online advertising platforms.
A bote pronto, parece que la Comisión Europea trata de concentrarse en las eventuales conductas excluyentes y no en conductas explotadoras. Es decir, en conductas que podrían ayudar a Google a reforzar su posición en el mercado – o a extender temporalmente su fuerte posición – dificultando el acceso al mercado de competidores. Algunas de las descritas son conductas que consisten en aprovechar la posición en un mercado para defenderse frente a la entrada en mercados relacionados con aquél – el de búsqueda en Internet – en el que la empresa tiene la posición de dominio.
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