Google has been formally issued antitrust charges by the European Commission. The company is accused of being in breach of EU laws of competition by placing stifling requirements on the manufacturers of Android handsets that prevented free choice for customers. Fairsearch, the leading complainant in the case against Google, said that the American company made manufacturers use key apps such as YouTube or Google Play and that nearly all phone makers in the EU had bowed to the demands. Google has responded and said that it “looked forward to working with the European Commission”. This comes one year after Google was charged by the EU again for distorting search results to the detriment of the rivals of its own shopping services.
