Recently in the news, there was an article that claimed that US Federal Regulators are beginning to issue court orders to Google and other companies to probe the practices of the companies within Google's search engine business.
The FTC is speculating whether Google is manipulating its search results to direct site users to its own services and websites. Google has not made a comment on the matter.
Is there something wrong with promoting your own website through a website that you own?
Major competitors of Google argue that the search engine has used its popularity seeking to improperly promote its other products such as: mapping, travel, and shopping. Due to the fact that the search engine handles more than sixty percent of all online searching, other competitors found its
"improper usages" to be something to worry about.
FTC officials are privately discussing whether or not to allow the agency's Bureau of Competitions to issue subpoenas to Google, and the FTC is reportedly close to delivering the court orders.
Attorneys-general in California, New York, and Ohio have also started antitrust investigations into Google. Many of Google's critics, like Expedia, Kayak, Travelocity, Microsoft feel that Google's practices are deserving of full-scale investigations by US antitrust authorities.
Feel free to speak your mind on this post in the comments section. Do you think that Google's ethics are deserving of full-scale investigations, or do you think this controversy solely between competitors?
