A German competition authority is investigating Google Alphabet Inc’s Google News Showcase, a platform that makes news available on the tech giant news website, it said Friday.
Partnering with Google can attract publishers and other media providers and provide consumers with better information services, he said.
“However, it must be ensured that this does not lead to discrimination between individual publishers,” the statement said.
“And Google’s strong position of reaching out to customers has led to a proliferation of competitive contributions from publishers or other media providers” on google.
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In response, Google said its Showcase product, launched last fall, is one of the many ways to support journalism, building on the products and revenue all publishers can benefit from.
The Bonn-based watchdog has used the advanced power provided under the latest changes in German competition laws to unlock new probes on Facebook and Amazon for their data process.
“The exhibition is an international news acquisition program – the selection of partners is based on non-discriminatory motives, and the content of the partners is not provided in selecting our results,” said spokeswoman Kay Oberbeck.
He also said Google would co-operate with the investigation.
The case is the second to be opened by Google in a few days, after the German anti-corruption watchdog launched an investigation into whether the American search company was abusing its market management in the way it handled user data.
The Bonn-based watchdog has used the advanced power provided under the latest changes in German competition laws to unlock new probes on Facebook and Amazon for their data process.
