BRUSSELS (AP) undefined European Union regulators will probe whether Google Inc. has been manipulating its search results to stifle competition, funnel more traffic to its own services and protect its global stranglehold of the online search market.

The European Commission's move, announced Tuesday, is the first formal investigation by a major regulatory agency into these issues and potentially could result in billions in fines, as in the recent cases of Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp.

Several competitors, one owned by Microsoft, say that links to their services appear too low on Google's general search results. They also claim that when Google offers similar services, such as online price comparison, it puts its own links higher on the sponsored search results, the ones companies have to pay for.

More at the source Record Eagle