Feb 27 (Reuters) – Belgium’s competition watchdog said on Friday it had opened an investigation into the sale of online ads by Google.
* The competition authorities said they had “seriousindications” that Google’s model for selling online ads was inbreach of antitrust rules, as the company appeared to be abusingits market power. * The investigation is in a preliminary phase and theoutcome is unclear, they said. * Google is already the subject of several European Unionantitrust investigations and has been fined billions of euros inEurope for antitrust violations in recent years. * Earlier this month, in a letter to advertisers, Googlesaid it also risked another antitrust investigation by theEuropean Commission over concerns it may be unfairly drivingonline advertising prices higher. * Google, which dominates the multibillion-dollar onlineadvertising market, said at the time that Google Search ads helpsmall businesses to compete with the biggest brands and keep theweb free for everyone.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer. Editing by Mark Potter)
