Google has fallen foul of authorities in Europe on numerous occasions and the latest war between the search giant and the European Union is just warming up. The “right to be forgotten” regulations imposed on Google seem to be just the beginning as the Financial Times is reporting that the EU is going to try to force Google to unbundle it search business from all its other services. That means Google will have to keep Search and all the data it acquires about users separately from its other major services such as Drive, Google Maps, Android, and Gmail.
Google has been the target of repeated anti-trust scrutiny in Europe over the last decade. Today Financial Times is reporting that the European parliament is on the verge of taking even more drastic steps, preparing a plan that would call for the break up of the search giant, specifically the “unbundling [of] search engines from other commercial services.” It was only five months ago that Google began removing links in response to Europe’s new rules about the “right to be forgotten.” The company has been criticized repeatedly, both for its commercial dominance and in regards to privacy. As Financial Times notes, the European parliament has no authority to force the break up of a company like Google, but does have the ability to sway new legislation, which might impact the search giant. When asked by Financial Times why a drastic measure like a break-up was necessary, Ramon Tremosa, a Spanish member of the EU parliment who sponsored the motion, said the commission could not “ask the secret of [Google’s] algorithm” and was seeking other remedies to curb its power.
