As Google's dominance in the online market becomes stronger and stronger, in the face of the possible "digital colony" threat of the United States, the European Union has stepped up efforts to build "network defenses" and required Google to publish its search ranking algorithm.
On September 15, 2014, the EU Germany called forGoogleAnnouncing the secret sauce that allowed it to monopolize the European Internet search market - the search ranking algorithm, this is tantamount to letting the search engine giant "naked".
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It's not just Germany that came forward to "fix" Google. French ministers have previously claimed that Google is a threat to French sovereignty. An executive at a European publishing house compared Google to the dragon in Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung. Google's old rival, Microsoft, also joined the "How to Train Your Dragon" and spent three times as much as Google's lobbying expenses in the EU to dismantle Google.
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Across the continent, Google is like an ant on a hot pot. It reflects broad skepticism facing U.S. tech giants over their growing dominance of online markets and privacy disputes over their handling of personal data in the wake of a U.S. internet surveillance scandal.
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According to the New York Times, in fact, Google has become an agent and a symbol of the United States' unrivaled hegemony and unrivaled technological leadership.
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Facing the possible threat of "digital colonies", the EU has stepped up efforts to build "network defenses".
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On September 16, 2014, the British "Financial Times" reported that German Justice Minister Maas said that Google must become more "transparent" in terms of the algorithm it uses to create its search engine rankings. Kim Mitter, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany, was relentless in his criticism of Maas' remarks. He said European companies and countries "should be concerned by calls for intellectual property rights infringement".
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Maas's threats come as the European Union took the unprecedented step last week to reject Google's third tentative settlement offer in a case involving whether the company used its dominance in search to promote products such as shopping, flights and restaurants. domain services.
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Google initially reached an agreement with EU regulators in February, which only required Google to make minor adjustments to algorithm procedures while avoiding fines. Now, EU regulators plan to scrap the original agreement and formally charge Google. This could lead to billions of dollars in fines for Google and affect Google's operations in the EU.
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In addition, in a recent "right to be forgotten" ruling, the EU also forced Google to remove some links to European search services.
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The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled this year that search providers need to remove links to personal information to a greater extent. As for the Google Street View shooting car, countries such as France, Germany and Italy have imposed fines on it.
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Google is not what it used to be. Founded in the late 1990s, Google declared its entrepreneurial credo as "sex is good", and was once regarded as an ideal model for technology companies.
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"They (Google) are no longer seen as innocent tech geeks," said Dindelman, chief executive of Welch Communications Strategies.
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Such concerns have been exacerbated by the massive data collection led by the US government.
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According to comScore, Google accounts for about two-thirds of the U.S. search market, but has a whopping 90% market share in Europe (excluding Russia).
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It’s not just Google that’s been whipped by the EU recently: taxi drivers in London and Madrid rallied against the U.S. ride-hailing software Uber, and Germany even banned the use of the software throughout the country; Apple and Amazon are also facing tax investigations in the EU. In addition, EU regulators are reviewing Facebook's acquisition of messaging service WhatsApp.