Goggle emerges largely unscathed from US probe

on 04/01/2013 10:33:52

Google has been found not guilty of skewing search results against competitors, ending a 20-month US inquiry into the firm's business practices.

It found Google did not use so-called "search bias" to push its own products up, and rival's services down.

The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, said that the investigation is now closed.

"Even though people would like us to bring a big search bias case, the facts aren't there," he said.

Google did agree to implement some changes in areas such as the practice of "scraping" data from rival websites, and its advertising policies.

"I have no reason to think that Google won't honour their commitment," said Leibowitz.