FTC Announces Settlement With Google (Updated)

The Federal Trade Commission announced this morning that it has settled its investigation of Google for anti-competitive practices, closing its probe into search bias while forcing the company to change its practices related to licensing patented mobile technologies, displaying competitors' content in its search results and penalizing clients for advertising on search platforms other than its own.

The Federal Trade Commission has settled its investigation of Google for anti-competitive practices, closing its probe into search bias without a complaint while forcing the company to change its practices related to licensing patented mobile technologies, displaying competitors’ content in its search results and penalizing clients for advertising on search platforms other than its own.

FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz acknowledged that search bias was widely seen as the biggest part of the case against Google and that some competitors and industry watchers would be disappointed that the commission had not taken action on that front.

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