Margrethe Vestager, Europe’s antitrust czar, played down the role of complainants in her antitrust probes after a report that lobby group FairSearch, which is the lead complainant in her Android inquiry, is legally controlled by tech giants Oracle and Naspers.
“When people come to us we take info hints and what they are worried about, their concerns, but we never take anything on face value,” she said. “We have to do everything from start to end to be able to stand up for the evidence and conclusions that we produce.”
POLITICO reported Friday that although FairSearch presents itself as a coalition of Google rivals, records filed with Belgian authorities show that Oracle and Naspers are the group’s only members with legal authority over its activities.
While both companies rival Google at a global level, neither company has a direct stake in the mobile markets involved in the Commission’s Android investigation.
“You will have complaints that come from different motives, different backgrounds and different intentions,” Vestager said when asked about the report. “No matter the nature of the complainant, if we find there is something to complain about we need to do the job and draw the conclusions that will eventually stand up in court.”
In a statement released today, FairSearch described itself as a “group of companies that operates through a consensus of our members, who all make contributions.”
It did not provide evidence of such decision-making or details about the companies’ individual contributions.
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