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Google hit with EU antitrust complaint by Danish job search site Jobindex

Jobindex alleges that Google wrongfully favored its own job search service over others.

Donovan Erskine

June 27, 2022 9:00 AM

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Google for Jobs is a service operated by Google that allows users to directly search for open job opportunities in their field of expertise. It’s far from the only service of its kind, and Google for Jobs often has to compete with similar services from other companies. There have been complaints that Google prioritizes its own job search engine over others, and now, it’s finding itself in more legal hot water. Danish job search company Jobindex has filed an antitrust complaint against Google for its handling of the job search services.

It was early this morning that we learned of the latest antitrust complaint against Google thanks to a Reuters report. Jobindex is claiming that Google wrongfully favors its own Google for Jobs search engine over others in the EU. This complaint will find itself on the desk of EU chief Margrethe Vestager, who is quite familiar with Google and its anti-competitive practices. Over the last several years, Vestager has fined the company 8 billion euros for such behavior.

Jobindex was among 23 job search companies that came forward with criticisms of Google’s favoritism of its own service back in 2019. Google for Jobs came to Europe back in 2018.

"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," said Jobindex CEO Kaare Danielsen in a statement to Reuters. "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," he continued.

The complaint from Jobindex is just the latest allegations of antitrust behavior from Google. It will be interesting to see where EU regulators land on the case, and how it could potentially impact Google’s future practices. For more on the business dealings of Google, Shacknews has you covered.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_