EU antitrust chief says investigation into Google’s Android and AdSense is progressing

By Foo Yun Chee STRASBOURG (Reuters) – Investigations into how Google may be using its Android smartphone operating system and AdSense advertising service to thwart rivals are progressing, the head of Europe’s antitrust watchdog said on Wednesday, amid concerns about the length of the proceedings. The European Commission opened an investigation into Android in 2015 after a complaint two years earlier by lobbying group FairSearch. A 2016 document seen by Reuters said the EU antitrust watchdog planned to impose a large fine on the company and order it to stop giving smartphone makers revenue-sharing payments for pre-installing only the Google search engine. It is also expected to order the company, an Alphabet unit, to stop requiring Google’s Chrome browser and other apps to be installed alongside the Google Play store. In the AdSense case, Google was accused of blocking rivals from advertising on its search engines in 2016. The Commission has yet to rule on either case, raising concerns among rivals and consumer groups. “We are moving forward with our two Google cases, both on Android and on AdSense,” Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told EU lawmakers. “Five years on Google seems like an eternity,” lawmaker Ramon Tremosa said. Like some of Google’s rivals, he has urged Vestager to break up the company. Such a move is unlikely because of the high legal threshold. The former Danish economy minister, who has the power to sanction companies for up to 10 percent of their global turnover, slapped Google with a record fine of 2.4 billion euros ($2.97 billion) last year for forcing rivals off its shopping service. But industry experts, analysts and even Google’s competitors say regulators may have a hard time breaking the company’s monopoly because of its entrenched dominance and the popularity of its products. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, editing by Larry King)