Barry Diller of Expedia complained 5 years ago that Google was using manipulative tactics to beef up its presence on its own searches, and the European Commission seems to agree with him, or at least they may be willing to consider that he may be right.
Diller told the Financial Times that Google’s purchase of travel search engine, ITA led Google to give preference to its own data rather than directing customers to sites like Expedia. Brussels is investigating whether practices such as this amount to anti-competitive and problematic strategies. European and U.S. based companies have complained the Google may be manipulating search rankings and interfering with normal competition between businesses.
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Another accusation is that Google is involved in placing rivals farther down in the rankings than justified. The Federal Trade Commission investigated Google for this, but did not press charges. It has shared its findings with the European Commission, and the FTC did express concerns about the way Google was handling rankings, a practice Google claims facilitates search.
