Google’s European chief executive acknowledges that the company has mishandled its messaging in Europe and is offering an olive branch to the European Commission.
Matt Brittin, who oversees Google’s European activities, said in his first interview addressing the anti-trust charges lodged against the company in April, that while the search engine giant disagrees with the accusations, it remains open to a settlement agreement.
“We want to be pragmatic and get to a point where we can continue to invest in building great products for everyone,” he said.
Brittin acknowledged that Google had failed to explain its business and vision to policymakers in Brussels and elsewhere in Europe, and said that the company was trying to adjust its American-rooted Silicon Valley image.
He said that in countries like Germany, France or Spain, Google for too long has seemed “like a West coast-driven, liberal values thing.”
“We don’t always get it right,” Brittin said. “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.”
“We just didn’t have the people on the ground to be able to have some of those conversations as we grew.”
His role as president for Europe, a new position created to unify Google’s operations here, reflects that realization.
Brittin said Google should better explain how it benefits Europe’s economy, culture and small enterprises.
He now expects to be in Brussels at least once a month, although he declined to specify what percentage of his time he spends on public affairs.
Despite the mea culpa, Brittin was dismissive of the Commission’s charges that it has abused its position as the dominant search engine in Europe.
Margrethe Vestager, the new European commissioner for competition, formally accused Google of breaching EU competition rules earlier this year. The move followed a five-year long probe and three aborted settlement attempts overseen by her predecessor.
The charges relate to how the search engine promotes its own shopping services within search results — showcasing them at the top of the page, while relegating non-paying rivals far below. Vestager has said that her services are still probing other concerns including complaints over Google’s advertising business, its maps service and its Android smartphone operating system.
“There is no evidence that consumers have been harmed here, and actually no evidence that complainants have been harmed,” Brittin said. He was also quick to point out that many of the complainants “are US companies or backed by US companies.”
Brittin painted a picture of a Commission years behind the times.
He stressed the growth of apps, telling POLITICO that seven out of every eight minutes spent online is in apps.
Read: Google isn’t the only portal to the Internet.
“Over that five-year period the world’s changed, right; we’ve all got the entire internet in our pocket,” said Brittin. “There is a big shift in how we’re accessing information and I think there has never been a more competitive time than this in terms of the choices that consumers have.”
Brittin was also quick to dismiss the latest complaint brought by Disconnect, which alleges that Google has abused its dominant position by removing Disconnect’s privacy app from the GooglePlay app store.
“We have a lots of other privacy apps available on the GooglePlay store and if people do not comply with the rules we need to make changes,” he said. “There are going to be people who will complain about the policies on our app store.”
This story was updated to clarify that Disconnect filed a formal complaint with the European Commission.