Antitrust Complaints Against Google's Job Search Tool: 23 Recruitment Websites Call for EU Investigation
In a letter sent to Margrethe Vestager on that day, Commissioner of the European Competition Commission, 23 European recruitment websites appealed to her to temporarily order Google to stop unfair competition while investigating.
Joint recruitment websites include British company Best Jobs Online, German company Intermedia and Jobindex. They will file a formal lawsuit against Google after submitting a letter to Vestager. Two other German companies have filed formal lawsuits against Google, according to people familiar with this matter.
Google's job search tool allows job seekers to see a summary of job posts published by many employers, allows job seekers to screen, save, and alert job openings, while applications need to be made on other websites. This job search tool has been launched for two years, and Google has put it at the top of its search results, ahead of other job search sites in most parts of the world.
Some competitors say it is illegal for Google to put job-hunting tools in this position because it uses its dominance to attract users to use its professional search products without having traditional marketing investments like other job-hunting websites.
Other job-hunting technology companies say that Google has reshaped competition and innovation in the industry.
There has been fierce competition between Google and other online content platforms that rely heavily on network traffic, and this event has opened a new battle in the field of job hunting.
It is widely believed that Google will sell advertisements in its job search tools, which is a typical feature of its services.
Nick Zakrasek, Senior Product Manager at Google Search, said the company welcomed industry feedback on job search. In order to address previous antitrust complaints, Google has allowed competitors to include their search services in its tools, as well as a feature designed to highlight competitors in Europe, it said.
"Any job information provider, from individual employers to recruitment platforms, can use this feature in search, and many of them have received a significant increase in the number of job applications." "By improving the experience of job search, we can provide more traffic to the whole network and support a healthy job search ecosystem," Zakrasek said in a statement.
September 16, 2019
Source: www.thepaper.cn
Photo from: 699pic.com
