Google’s issued its first first public statement since the European Union opened an anti-trust investigation against it back in April. And it’s… surprisingly humble.
In an interview with Politico, Google’s president in Europe, Matt Brittin, explained:
“We don’t always get it right.As far as Europe is concerned: we get it. We understand that people here are not the same in their attitudes to everything as people in America.”
The anti-trust investigation is focused on Google’s shopping service and Android, with the European Commission claiming that the company has been using anti-competitive practices to succeed in their respective markets. Google’s been piecing together a formal response, which is due in three weeks.
In the same interview, Brittin explains that a lot of time is being spent trying to better explain Google’s business and vision to policymakers in Brussels who don’t, perhaps, quite understand its Silicon Valley mentality. It also seeks to convince European officials that it’s not as dominant as everyone seems to think. Neither task is necessarily straightforward.
Picture: AP