Google is making an unprecedented move to combine its European regional and product operations into a single unit in response to fierce regulatory scrutiny, according to news reports.
This shift in operations comes at a time when Google is facing intense pressure from industry watchdogs, who claim that the company maybe involved in anticompetitive practices across Europe. The search giant is also being probed on its possible lack of oversight on privacy issues and failure to comply with European data protection legislation; the laundry list of regulatory challenges does not stop there.
The popular mobile company has been at the center of a long-running antitrust case as well, which claims that Google creates an unfair advantage by dominating specific searches such as news and travel. As the investigation into alleged antitrust practices runs into its fourth year, on Monday, Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman reportedly met with Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s competition commissioner to review the case.
These restructurings should allow Google to keep a stronger grip on its pan-European operations. For instance, when business partners are conducting business with Google in Europe, they will have a single point of contact, which can help in dealing with country-specific regulations, says a Tech Crunch article.
In short, over the years, the EC has made a huge push for single-market regulations, and Google has taken extra steps to satisfy regulators through unifying its European operations.
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