Lawmakers Concerned About EP Search Engine Resolution

Some U.S. lawmakers representing districts with a large tech company presence, are concerned about reports of a pending European Parliament (EP) resolution proposing that relevant companies spin off their search engine business in Europe from other operations as a way to promote more search engine competition.

The resolution reportedly does not mention Google, though as a dominant search engine it is clearly one of those relevant companies.

In a bipartisan letter to the parliament dated Nov. 25, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), ranking member of the Communications Subcommittee (Google is based in her district) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) led a group of 10 legislators in saying they had "great concern" over what they said would be "deter[ring] continued innovation and investment from U.S.-based Internet companies."

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.