By now it is clear that the European Union has strong feelings against American tech giants such as Google – and today’s decision has made it even clearer. According to the New York Times, the European Parliament has passed a nonbinding vote to unbundle Google’s search engine from its other commercial services. The resolution carries no legal obligations at this time, it can be considered symbolic, as it comes just a day after a separate European body – involved in issues about privacy – has demanded Google to expand the “right to be forgotten” to its international domains.
Rest assured, Google will definitely not be broken up at this time. Still, it is not clear how the various political decisions taken by European authorities will influence the company’s operations in the region. Taken together, though, the measures denote a strong antipathy to American corporations that dominate certain aspects of the technological world. European citizens are growing more and more dependent on gadgets and conveniences, mostly provided by American tech giants. This is not the first time Europe attacks a major American tech firm – Microsoft was under fire a few years back, surrounded by an equal amount of resentment and mistrust. Now it’s Google’s turn to suffer, it seems.
The anti-Google vote in the European Parliament is just a formal one, as it has no formal power on antitrust policy in the European Union. The European Commission has, in turn, and this recently adopted unbinding regulation might turn into formal antitrust charges against Google, as a result of an investigation started in 2010 against the search giant. The company’s dominant position in the European search market could come under scrutiny. Still, even with formal charges in place, Google is not likely to split up – it would rather change its practices and policies applied to the European market, and possibly pay a consistent fine. Breaking up a company this way would have to be backed with solid evidence of massive consumer harm – and it is not the case with Google at this moment.