Google Skirts Antitrust Concerns in FTC Agreement

The Federal Trade Commission ended a lengthy investigation of Google on Thursday, announcing a two-part agreement to allay antitrust concerns regarding the search engine leader's practices, according to a report from CQ's Ambreen Ali.

While Google agreed to measures to resolve some complaints by competitors like Yelp, the search giant avoided action on the core issue of whether Google privileges its own products in its search results. Any judgment against Google on search bias would have constituted an unprecedented government intervention into the search market, and by extension the Internet itself. Google maintained that complaints about its search practices stemmed from a misunderstanding of the company's mission, which is to provide consumers with answers to their queries.

Competitors including Microsoft had pushed regulators to take action against Google in the search market, an ironic twist after Microsoft itself spent many years tied up with antitrust litigation. Those critics argued Google's highlighting of its shopping, finance, mapping and other products gave them an unfair advantage over rival sites.

The commission voted to require that the company stop using patent lawsuits to slow down competitors in the smart-phone market. It also accepted Google's voluntary changes to the way it scrapes contents from competitors' websites for use in its search results. Those voluntary changes are legally binding and include reporting requirements that will allow the FTC to "vigorously monitor" how the company implements them, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said at a press conference.

"Today's action delivers more relief for American consumers faster than any other option available to the commission," Leibowitz said.