The European Union is granting Google a week-long extension to respond to charges claiming the company is abusing its dominance in online search advertising.
The Mountain View, Calif. company now has until Nov. 3 to respond to antitrust concerns over Adsense, its search advertising project, European Commission spokesman Richard Cardoso told Reuters.
{mosads}”Google asked for additional time to review the documents in the case file. In line with normal practice, the commission analyzed the reasons for the request and granted an extension allowing Google to fully exercise its rights of defense,” Cardoso wrote in an email to Reuters.
Google has previously received multiple extensions to formally respond to EU antitrust charges over its comparison shopping service and Android operating system.
Adsense is the third Google product to raise antitrust concerns with the European Commission — the executive arm of the European Union. The Commission argues that Google has taken advantage of its leader in the online advertising market to maintain its dominance and block competitors.
Google has denied the EU’s monopoly charges.
“We believe that our innovations and product improvements have increased choice for European consumers and promote competition,” a Google spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hill. “We look forward to making our case to the European Commission.”
European regulators have been increasing their scrutiny of American companies in recent years, with the Commission also investigating state aid and antitrust cases against McDonald’s and Amazon, respectively.
The commission previously ordered Apple to pay $14.5 billion in back taxes in a case regarding the tech company’s tax arrangements with Ireland.
These investigations and rulings against U.S companies have attracted the ire of American lawmakers and officials who think Europe is unfairly targeting U.S. businesses.