Feb 27 (Reuters) – Belgium’s competitors watchdog mentioned on Friday it had opened an investigation into the sale of on-line adverts by Google.
* The competitors authorities mentioned they’d “seriousindications” that Google’s mannequin for promoting on-line adverts was inbreach of antitrust guidelines, as the corporate appeared to be abusingits market energy. * The investigation is in a preliminary part and theoutcome is unclear, they mentioned. * Google is already the topic of a number of European Unionantitrust investigations and has been fined billions of euros inEurope for antitrust violations in recent times. * Earlier this month, in a letter to advertisers, Googlesaid it additionally risked one other antitrust investigation by theEuropean Fee over considerations it might be unfairly drivingonline promoting costs larger. * Google, which dominates the multibillion-dollar onlineadvertising market, mentioned on the time that Google Search adverts helpsmall companies to compete with the largest manufacturers and preserve theweb free for everybody.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer. Modifying by Mark Potter)
