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Highlights: EU charges Google over shopping searches, to probe Android

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union accused Google Inc on Wednesday of cheating competitors by distorting Internet search results in favor of its Google Shopping service and also launched an antitrust probe into its Android mobile operating system.

Following are the highlights of the EU news conference following the EU announcement:

EU ANTI-TRUST CHIEF MARGRETHE VESTAGER AT NEWS CONFERENCE

"Today's statement of objections on comparison shopping is of course limited. But it is also the first place where we got a complaint that Google is favoring its product in search for the longest period in time. However, we will continue to look at Google's conduct in other areas ... If an infringement is proven, a case focusing on comparison shopping could potentially establish a broader precedent for enforcing EU competition rules in other instances of Google favoring its own services over competitive services."

ON SCREEN DESIGN

"Just to be absolutely clear. We do not wish to interfere with screen design, with design choices (...) or how the algorithm works. Rather, what we would like to see, is that consumers are certain to see the best comparison shopping results."

CONSUMER CONCERNS

"Our investigation so far has shown that when a consumer opens a shopping related query in Google's search engine, Google's comparison shopping product is systematically displayed prominently at the top of its results. This display is irrespective of whether it is the most relevant to the query."

ON WEB SCRAPING

"There are other investigations as well. The Commission has previously expressed three other concerns as regards to Google's conduct, that being the copying of rivals' web content, also known as scraping, exclusivity in its agreement with advertising partners and undue restrictions on advertisers' ability to use competing advertising platforms.

"We will continue actively to investigate these three concerns."

ON ANDROID PROBE

"In particular we will address three different concerns. The first concern is that we will look into Google allegedly requiring or incentivising smart phone and tablet manufacturers to exclusively pre-install Google's own application or services, in particular Google's search engine.

"Second, we will look into the alleged bundling together of certain Google products with other apps and other services and thirdly we will investigate if Google is hindering the ability of manufacturers of smart phones and tablets who want to use the Android operating system from being able to use and develop other open source versions of Android.

"These issues are distinct from the Google comparison shopping case and the investigations will of course be different."

(Reporting by Brussels newsroom)