In 2009, the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers filed a complaint to the Italian antitrust authority against Google News members, accusing them of removing articles from Google’s main search engine. Such proceedings would greatly impact revenues from newspaper advertising, although Google News would provide a link from the originating sites, which are typically accessed by very few people.

Google news regards this issue as being under control, as they have agreed to disclose the revenue-sharing arrangements for partners of its AdSense program, under which Google directs advertising to other websites.  But at the same time, Google acknowledges there is much more to be done, saying, “While we comply with Italian and E.U. competition laws, we also understand that there is always room for improvement in our business.”

This is not the first allegation of this kind made against Google. In 2010, the European Commission set up an investigation on Google’s unfair behavior in the news sector, the issue going deeper, into countries like Germany, the United Kingdom, South Korea and the United States. In order to fully understand the gravity of accusations, we must mention that 80 percent of the German internet users access Google.

The second matter to be investigated regard’s Google’s unfair involvement to hinder its competitors from posting ads on its sites and in turn using valorous advertising space in newspapers and magazines to place its own links. Google is facing international inquiries for other things, such as violation of privacy through services such as Google Street View and anti-business practices by offering the Google Maps services for free.

Meanwhile, Apple and Amazon are following Google’s attitude towards business ethics. Apple has already contacted publications in Europe, informing them that they will stop offering free access to iPad editions, due to money losses as readers would only pay to publications and not to Apple, generating a 30 percent loss for the Apple Store. Amazon, on the other hand, will have the final say when deciding the price of developer apps for its new Android-based AppStore, which may have an affect on its developer relations.