Google’s proposed settlement of a European Union antitrust case amounts to continuing its discrimination against other search companies — but putting a warning label on the practice, said an industry group.

The search giant has proposed labelling its own in-house services to indicate to users that they are not the result of “natural search”. It also proposes including links to rival search engines for specialist restaurant search results that generate revenue for Google. The Internet giant’s paid-for services would be separated from general search and treated more like advertising, according to media reports confirmed by a person familiar with the case.

The proposed remedies are essentially “labeling plus” and could make matters worse, said David Wood, lawyer for ICOMP, which represents some of the complainants in the antitrust case.

Shivaun Raff, CEO of Foundem, one of the first to complain to the Commission about Google, said: “The proposals described in the media this weekend sound like they may play straight into Google’s hands. At first glance, they read more like an extract from Google’s development road-map than a genuine attempt to resolve the Commission’s concerns regarding search manipulation.”

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