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Google will on Wednesday be accused by Brussels of illegally abusing its dominance of the internet search market in Europe, a step that ultimately could force it to change its business model fundamentally and pay hefty fines.
欧盟(EU)将于周三指控谷歌(Google)非法滥用其在欧洲互联网搜索市场的主导地位。此举最终可能会迫使谷歌从根本上改变商业模式，并支付高额罚金。
Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, is to say that the US group will soon be served with a formal charge sheet alleging that it breached antitrust rules by diverting traffic from rivals to favour its own services, according to two people familiar with the case. The initial charge will focus on product searches where Google is accused of harming other shopping sites, but could be extended to other areas.
知情人士表示，欧盟反垄断专员玛格丽特•维斯特格(Margrethe Vestager)将会宣称，谷歌将很快收到正式起诉书，指控其违反反垄断法规，将竞争对手的流量分流去支持自身服务。最初的指控将集中于产品搜索服务，谷歌被控在搜索过程中损害其他购物网站的利益。但这一指控可能会扩展到其他领域。
Google confirmed the imminent charges in an internal email sent to staff on Tuesday. “We have a very strong case, with especially good arguments when it comes to better services for consumers and increased competition,” it said in the communication, a copy of which was obtained by the Financial Times.
周二，谷歌在发送给员工的一封内部电子邮件中确认即将面临指控。在英国《金融时报》记者看到的这封邮件的拷贝中，谷歌表示：“我们的理由非常充分，尤其是在以更好的服务面对消费者、面对更趋激烈的竞争方面，我们的理由更加充分。”
Serving Google with a so-called statement of objections will be the opening salvo in one of the defining antitrust cases of the internet era. It could prove as epic as the decade-long battle with Microsoft that ultimately cost the company 2bn in fines.
作为互联网时代具有判例意义的反垄断案之一，该案的第一步将是向谷歌递交所谓“异议声明”(statement of objections)。这一案件或将被证明是与微软反垄断案同样经典的案例。微软反垄断案前后持续了10年，最终令微软支付了20亿欧元罚金。
The commission’s move comes after a torrid five-year investigation that Google came close to settling without charges last year. The draft deal collapsed after fierce objections were raised by ministers in France and Germany, and by some of the continent’s most powerful telecoms and media groups.
在欧盟委员会采取最新举措之前，谷歌曾面临长达5年的调查，去年一度接近达成免受指控的和解方案。但由于法德两国部长及欧洲最有影响的电信和媒体集团的激烈反对，这一和解协议的草案未能通过。
