Google hit with antitrust complaint by European job search site

Also announces the closure of Hangouts in November

Google faced further legal troubles on Monday after Danish online job-search rival Jobindex complained to EU regulators that the Alphabet subsidiary had unfairly favoured its own job search service.

The antitrust complaint brought by Jobindex might hasten EU antitrust head Margrethe Vestager's scrutiny of the service, Google for Jobs, which has been under her observation for the last three years. Vestager has fined Google a total of 8 billion euros for anticompetitive behaviour.

Google for Jobs, launched in Europe in 2018, allows users to do direct searches for available job opportunities within their specific area of expertise.

It provides links to postings that have been compiled from multiple employers and enables applicants to filter, save and receive notifications about openings, although they must visit other websites to apply for the positions.

For ordinary web searches, Google displays a sizable widget for the tool at the top of its results.

There have been allegations that Google prioritises its own job search service to the detriment of competitors.

Back in 2019, Jobindex was one of the 23 job search firms who complained of Google's unfair preference for its own service.

According to Jobindex, Google used anticompetitive tactics to tilt the Danish market, which had previously been very competitive, in its favour.

Kaare Danielsen, founder and CEO of Jobindex, told Reuters that when Google for Jobs first entered the Danish market, Jobindex already had the biggest jobs database in Denmark.

"Nevertheless, in the short time following the introduction of Google for Jobs in Denmark, Jobindex lost 20% of search traffic to Google's inferior service," Danielsen added.

"By putting its own inferior service at the top of results pages, Google in effect hides some of the most relevant job offerings from job seekers. Recruiters in turn may no longer reach all job seekers, unless they use Google's job service."

Danielsen requested the European Commission to fine Google and impose periodic payments to ensure compliance, in addition to ordering the company to cease the alleged anticompetitive conduct.

The European Commission said the complaint would be evaluated in accordance with the standard procedures.

Google said it collaborates with job providers to send users to websites with relevant job postings.

"Any jobs provider, big or small, is able to take part and companies are seeing increased traffic and job matches as a result of this feature," a Google spokesperson told Reuters.

Google to discontinue Hangouts in November

Google also announced on Monday that it would phase out its Hangouts chat service, terminating it completely in November 2022.

It said that users using the Hangouts mobile app will get a prompt to switch to Google Chat, which can be accessed via Gmail as well as its own standalone application.

For current Hangouts users, Google says it will automatically move all existing Hangout conversations into Chat. Hangout users will also have the option of using the firm's Takeout service to download a copy of their Hangouts data before it is officially retired in November.