Google is Once Again a Target of Anti-Trust Probe Over Job Search Service
Google is currently facing a formal antitrust complaint in Europe over its online job-search service known as Google for Jobs. According to Reuters, in 2019, EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager started probing the service following a latter from 23 job search websites from across Europe, calling on the regulators to look into the company’s anti-competitive behavior in the recruitment sector. The letter’s signatories have talked about how the search giant has abused its market dominance by favoring Google for jobs in search results. The service makes it easier for people to find jobs by aggregating listings from different career sites. This time, Jobindex, one of the signatories, has filed a complaint against Google. The company has accused Google of stifling the competition in the recruitment sector, and therefore, impairing the labor market. Speaking to Reuters, Jobindex founder and CEO Kaare Danielsen said “Jobindex lost 20% of search traffic to Google’s inferior service” after it entered the Danish market. “By putting its own inferior service at the top of results pages, Google in effect hides some of the most relevant job offerings from job seekers,” Danielsen said. “Recruiters in turn may no longer reach all job seekers, unless they use Google’s job service.” As expected, the job search portal now wants the EU to stop Google’s alleged anti-competitive behavior, and in addition to that, impose a fine, and enforce compliance by requiring recurring payments.
