Summary: Google is facing several global regulatory issues.
Google may arguably be the most powerful company in the world, but with that money and influence, they have encountered several legal and regulatory setbacks. Just this month, the European Union slapped the company with a multi-billion dollar fine and a day later Canada’s Supreme Court demanded the company remove certain website listings from its search results.
According to NBC News, Canada’s Supreme Court upheld a lower ruling in British Columbia that stated Google must remove certain listings from its search results. This decree effects not only Canada but everywhere the tech company operates.
“The internet has no borders – its natural habitat is global,” the court stated in its judgment. “The only way to ensure that the interlocutory injunction attained its objective was to have it apply where Google operates – globally.”
Canada’s 7-2 decision came despite Google’s previous attempt to appease them by voluntarily removing over 300 websites. U.S.-based free speech groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation sounded the alarm that the ruling defied the U.S. Constitution and had “troubling implications for free expression online.”
Canada’s ruling was a blow to Google and its parent company Alphabet, which had previously been fined $2.7 billion by the EU.
The EU said that Google illegally favored its own comparison shopping service and brought in huge profits at an unfair advantage to its competitors. According to The Guardian, Google has 90 days to comply and has two unappealing options.
“In practice, the company is forced to pick between two unpalatable options: either opening up an API so that other shopping services can put their own comparisons in the same, incredibly valuable slot (unlikely), or removing Google Shopping results from the top of the search, and forcing users to deliberately switch over to the shopping site if they want to use its functionality,” The Guardian wrote.
The EU is also investigating Google’s Android phones and Adsense program. With Androids, the EU wants to determine whether Google forces manufacturers to use certain apps and services, and with Adsense, EU is seeking to discover if Google unfairly prioritizes Adsense over its competition.
In addition to problems with the EU and Canada, Google has also been pressured to increase its privacy for users as well as increase its terrorism monitoring. In response, Google has issued a four-point plan to remove terrorist content from Youtube, agreed to remove medical records from its search results, and agreed to no longer scan users’ emails to serve targeted ads.
Google also pledged to fight global terrorism and joined other tech giants such as Twitter, Facebook, adn Microsoft to form a new Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism.
Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
Source: NBC News