After a 19-month antitrust probe, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced, Thursday, that it is concluding its investigation of Google. Though it didn't escape scot-free, by settling the dispute and avoiding any FTC fines, it's hard to spin the results as anything but a positive for the company.
As part of the settlement, Google voluntarily agreed to make two changes to its search engine operations:
More choice for websites: Websites can already opt out of Google Search, and they can now remove content (for example, reviews) from specialized search results pages, such as local, travel and shopping;
More ad campaign control: Advertisers can already export their ad campaigns from Google AdWords. They will now be able to mix and copy ad campaign data within third-party services that use our AdWords API.
In addition, the search giant agreed to avoid pursuing injunctions against competitors regarding essential patent disputes and to instead solve these clashes through an objective third party. This likely means that Google will license some of its patents to companies such as Apple.
The investigation's primary focus was on allegations that Google has been exploiting its dominant position as a search engine provider. Rivals claim that Google unfairly promotes its own services and products over those of its competitors, but the FTC ruled that there was no evidence indicating this to be the case.
"Although some evidence suggested that Google was trying to eliminate competition, Google's primary reason for changing the look and feel of its search results to highlight its own products was to improve the user experience," said FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz.
The FTC's decision falls far short of what many groups hoped to achieve. FairSearch.org, a collection of companies ranging from Microsoft to multiple online travel/shopping sites, believes that the changes Google agreed to make are insufficient. Instead of addressing the claim that Google prioritizes its own products, the settlement instead allows companies to move their advertisements and listings to other services more easily.
"If the FTC fails to take decisive action to end Google's anti-competitive practices, and locks itself out of any remedies to Google's conduct that are offered in Europe later this month, the FTC will have acted prematurely and failed in its mission of protecting America's consumers," said the group.
Google is expected to settle a similar lawsuit with the European Commission later this year.
