The EU threatens to break up Google, and it cant happen soon enough

It seems the EU is finally planning to take Google to task, and using pretty heavyweight tools.

The Financial Times reports that the European parliament is poised to call for a break-up of Google, via the European Commission’s anti-trust office.

The FT has seen a draft motion which calls for the “unbundling [of] search engines from other commercial services” to effectively limit the search giant’s power.

“Unbundling cannot be excluded,” said Andreas Schwab, a German MEP who is one of the motion’s backers.

Google has more than 90% search market share in EU, and its Android operating system has more than 80% market share.  The company has been thumbing its nose at recent EU right to be forgotten rulings by informing newspapers when they receive a request to remove a listing from their index, thereby automatically drawing attention to the very thing the applicant want to be forgotten. The company has been involved in 5 years of anti-trust investigations regarding favourable placement of their own services over competitors, with little result so far.

Google has of course used profits from its search monopoly to undercut various businesses, from Microsoft’s Windows Mobile to Microsoft Office with Google Office and Windows with Chromebooks, all being given away for free. Limiting the company effectively will do a lot to restore competition in many areas.

The draft resolution’s final text will be agreed early next week, ahead of a vote, which is expected on Thursday.

Do our readers agree with this move?