Google's SVP & General Counsel Kent Walker descibed as "peculiar and problematic" the demands by European Union antitrust regulators to change the way it displays search results. The EU complaint accused Google as part of a five-year-long probe of wielding its market power to quell competition in the comparison-shopping market. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager fired off a so-called statement of objections threatening fines and enforced changes to the way search results are displayed.

In a blog post, Walker said that Google has officially responded to European Commission?s Statement of Objections (SO), describing the allegations as incorrect, and that Google "increases choice for European consumers and offers valuable opportunities for businesses of all sizes."

The SO says that Google?s displays of paid ads from merchants (and, previously, of specialized groups of organic search results) diverted traffic away from shopping services.

"But the SO doesn't back up that claim, doesn't counter the significant benefits to consumers and advertisers, and doesn't provide a clear legal theory to connect its claims with its proposed remedy," Walker said.

"We use traffic analysis to rebut claims that our ad displays and specialized organic results harmed competition by preventing shopping aggregators from reaching consumers. Economic data spanning more than a decade, an array of documents, and statements from complainants all confirm that product search is robustly competitive. And we show why the SO is incorrect in failing to consider the impact of major shopping services like Amazon and eBay, who are the largest players in this space," Walker added.

Defending Google s search engine, Walker said that Google's search engine has
been designed to provide "the most relevant results and most useful ads for any query," adding that both userr and advertisers benefit.

The commission "will carefully consider Google?s response before taking any decision on how to proceed," Ricardo Cardoso, a spokesman for the EU regulator, said in a statement.

If the regulator?s concerns are confirmed, the EU said Google could face a fine large enough to act as a deterrent.