This old socialist flyer could be updated by Fow-news or academics who replace "we fool you" by "we inform you". Following the complaint of Microsoft and two other European smaller companies, the European Commission has launched this week a preliminary antitrust investigation into Google’s search engine and its search-advertising service.In a FT's article, it is reported that Julia Holtz, the company’s senior competition counsel for Europe said the algorithm was a mechanical tool for ranking according to relevance. ”The algorithm does the ranking, not us,” she said, adding that companies had to “work on a good page to go up in the rankings”.
Since (grosso modo) distortion of competition is appreciated according to its effect on a given market and not according to the company's intent, the 'robot excuse' (i.e. 'it's not me, it's my algorithm') will remain unconclusive. In absence of other arguments, there is a high risk of conviction.
Microsoft learnt in 2009 that being an eGoliath in the EU is not an easy task. Now comes the turn of Google.
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