Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) A Danish job search rival accused Google of anti-competitive behavior, stressing that the US tech giant favors its service.
Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, started looking into Google’s service about three years ago and the latest complaint could speed up the process, according to Reuters reporting on Monday.
The EC fined Google more than 8 billion euros in the last years over different anti-competitive practices, with the company previously announcing it implemented changes in the EU after job search rivals filed complaints.
Complaints filed three years ago
Google launched its Google for Jobs service in 2018 and 23 competitors filed complaints against it in 2019, stressing that they lost market share and accusing Google of abusing its position to direct online traffic towards its service.
Jobindex, one of the complainants in 2018, warned that Google distorted the previously competitive Danish market through the use of anti-competitive practices.
Kaare Danielsen, the Jobindex founder, pointed out that the company had the largest job database in the country when Google entered the market.
“Nevertheless, in the short time following the introduction of Google for Jobs in Denmark, Jobindex lost 20% of search traffic to Google’s inferior service,” he stressed.
Danielsen noted that Google places its service at the top of search results, which “in effect hides some of the most relevant job offerings from job seekers… recruiters, in turn, may no longer reach all job seekers, unless they use Google’s job service.”
He warned that Google’s practice has negative effects on competition between recruitment services and impacts labor markets directly, which has effects on the economy.
Danielsen called on the EC to force Google to stop this practice, slap the company with a fine and ensure that it complies with competition rules in the EU.
Jobindex accused Google of copying some of its job ads and marketing them through its service, stressing that the company’s practices present privacy risks to employers and job seekers.
Google’s service aggregates posts from employers and allows users to filter openings and get alerts, but users must apply elsewhere. The company places its service at the top of search results.
