歐盟將指控谷歌非法濫用壟斷地位

Google will on Wednesday be accused by Brussels of illegally abusing its dominance of the internet search market in Europe, a step that ultimately could force it to change its business model fundamentally and pay hefty fines.

歐盟(EU)將於週三指控谷歌(Google)非法濫用其在歐洲互聯網搜索市場的主導地位。此舉最終可能會迫使谷歌從根本上改變商業模式，並支付高額罰金。

Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, is to say that the US group will soon be served with a formal charge sheet alleging that it breached antitrust rules by diverting traffic from rivals to favour its own services, according to two people familiar with the case. The initial charge will focus on product searches where Google is accused of harming other shopping sites, but could be extended to other areas.

知情人士表示，歐盟反壟斷專員瑪格麗特•維斯特格(Margrethe Vestager)將會宣稱，谷歌將很快收到正式起訴書，指控其違反反壟斷法規，將競爭對手的流量分流去支持自身服務。最初的指控將集中於產品搜索服務，谷歌被控在搜索過程中損害其他購物網站的利益。但這一指控可能會擴展到其他領域。

Google confirmed the imminent charges in an internal email sent to staff on Tuesday. “We have a very strong case, with especially good arguments when it comes to better services for consumers and increased competition,” it said in the communication, a copy of which was obtained by the Financial Times.

週二，谷歌在發送給員工的一封內部電子郵件中確認即將面臨指控。在英國《金融時報》記者看到的這封郵件的拷貝中，谷歌表示：“我們的理由非常充分，尤其是在以更好的服務面對消費者、面對更趨激烈的競爭方面，我們的理由更加充分。”

Serving Google with a so-called statement of objections will be the opening salvo in one of the defining antitrust cases of the internet era. It could prove as epic as the decade-long battle with Microsoft that ultimately cost the company 2bn in fines.

作爲互聯網時代具有判例意義的反壟斷案之一，該案的第一步將是向谷歌遞交所謂“異議聲明”(statement of objections)。這一案件或將被證明是與微軟反壟斷案同樣經典的案例。微軟反壟斷案前後持續了10年，最終令微軟支付了20億歐元罰金。

The commission’s move comes after a torrid five-year investigation that Google came close to settling without charges last year. The draft deal collapsed after fierce objections were raised by ministers in France and Germany, and by some of the continent’s most powerful telecoms and media groups.

在歐盟委員會採取最新舉措之前，谷歌曾面臨長達5年的調查，去年一度接近達成免受指控的和解方案。但由於法德兩國部長及歐洲最有影響的電信和媒體集團的激烈反對，這一和解協議的草案未能通過。