Google goes on charm offensive

Google has gone on a charm offensive to convince law makers, academics and the media that the company is not anti-competitive.

The search giant came under the scrutiny of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week after it emerged that chief executive Eric Schmidt, who also sits on the Apple board, could be breaching FTC laws which prevent competing companies having common directors.

An FTC investigation is currently trying to determine the extent to which Google and Apple are competitors.

Adam Kovacevich, senior manager for global comms and public affairs at Google, said in a posting on the firm's Public Policy blog that Google had been meeting with policymakers, think tank representatives, academics, journalists, advertising agencies and trade associations to explain Google's "six principles of competition and openness".

"As Google has grown, the company has naturally faced more scrutiny about our business principles and practices," he wrote. "We believe that Google promotes competition and openness online, but we have not always done a good job telling our story."

The six principles are as follows:

1. Help other businesses be more competitive
2. Make it easy for users to change
3. Open is better than closed
4. Competition is just one click away
5. Advertisers pay what a click is worth to them
6. Advertisers have many choices in a dynamic market

However, Google will have to do a lot to convince certain quarters of its good intentions. There is still a growing perception that it has the capacity to become a monopoly, and the firm is also being sued over rights to the Android name.

Google has been in trouble with the FTC before over accusations that its proposed non-exclusive advertising deal with Yahoo breached competition laws.

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