Only one Irish firm in letter to EU's Vestager demanding crackdown on Google             

Firms say Google is giving its own services preferential placement in its search results

EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager was sent a letter saying Google was giving its own services, such as those for accommodation, travel, and jobs, preferential placement in its search results. File picture: Stephanie LeCocq

Only one Irish firm is on a list of 130 tech firms and 28 business groups who have called for a crackdown on search giant Google in an open letter sent to EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager.  

The critics say that EU competition enforcers should take a tougher line, saying the US tech giant unfairly favours its own services on its web searches.

The group includes US and UK companies as well as peers in 21 EU countries, but only one of the corporate signatories, Jobs.ie, is based in Ireland.

Ireland is host to Google's European head offices which employs thousands of jobs here. 

The critics sent the joint letter to EU antitrust chief Ms Vestager today, saying Google was giving its own services, such as those for accommodation, travel, and jobs, preferential placement in its search results and urging swift action to stop the practice. 

Google has refuted assertions that it unfairly favours its own services. It says that its users are not locked in and that competition to its services is just one click away on the internet.

“People expect Google to give them the most relevant, high-quality search results that they can trust,” a Google representative said. 

“They do not expect us to preference specific companies or commercial rivals over others, or to stop launching helpful services which create more choice and competition for Europeans,” they said. 

Ms Vestager has levied fines totalling €8.25bn against Google in the past three years for abusing its market power to favour its shopping comparison service, its Android mobile operating system, and its advertising business.

Signatories to the letter include longstanding Google critics Yelp, Expedia, Trivago, Kelkoo, Stepstone, and Foundem — whose complaint triggered the EU shopping probe against Google.