Brussels to say it uses search engine to divert traffic to its own services

The European Union will today accuse Google of illegally abusing its supremacy on the internet search market.

Brussels will say that Google has used its massive dominance as a search engine to divert internet users from rivals to its own services, which include YouTube and the Google+ social network.

In one of the most high-profile competition cases of recent years, Europe could fine Google more than £4 billion amid a wave of political opposition in Europe to the perceived dominance of US tech companies.

Google currently boasts a 90 per cent share in Europe's search engine market.

The European Union will accuse Google of illegally abusing its supremacy on the internet search market

But the ruling - the result of a five-year investigation into the American search giant – means Google may ultimately have to change its business model and pay multi-billion pound fines to Brussels.

Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition commissioner, will today serve the company with a formal charge sheet alleging that it breached anti-trust rules, according to the Financial Times.

Google's competitors, including the computer giant Microsoft and sites such as travel booking firm Expedia and TripAdvisor, claim that its method of promoting its own companies above rivals on its search site stops them competing on a level playing field.

And in a further blow to Google, the EU is also expected to probe Google's operating system for Android smartphones.

The investigation will centre on whether Google imposes restrictions on phone makers that force them to favour their own apps, such as YouTube. Google has previously rejected the allegations, and insisted that Android is an open platform that is distributed for free.

Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition commissioner, will today serve Google with a formal charge sheet

After charges are issued, Google will have ten weeks to reply to Brussels, according to the Financial Times. They will also get the chance to argue their case in a formal hearing.

The investigation into Google began in 2010 but was repeatedly delayed because the commission could not agree on settlement terms.

Google offered three settlement proposals to resolve the case. Most recently, just over a year ago, it offered to give competing products and services bigger visibility on its website. However Europe initially accepted that deal, only to reverse the decision six months later and demand more concessions. Vestager, Europe's competition boss who was the inspiration for the hit Danish political drama series Borgen, took over the job in November and vowed to take Google on.

Insiders claim the case could prove just as costly as the EU's decade-long battle with Microsoft, which ultimately cost the company £1.6 billion in fines.

If Google fails to rebut any formal charges imposed by Brussels, the commission could impose a huge fine which could exceed £4 billion - about 10 per cent of Google's most recent annual revenue.

The move will stop short of previous threats that the EU executive could consider breaking up Google to separate its business from the search engine.

Google has faced searching antitrust questions across three continents for several years. But the latest move by the EU marks the first time the company has been accused of wrongdoing.

The search engine is far more dominant in Europe than it is in the United States – where rivals like Microsoft's Bing enjoy a share of the market.

And there has been fierce opposition to the dominance of Google from many countries in the EU. In fact twenty complainants want the search engine to abide by strict rules than ensure it treats its own services the same as it would its rivals.

More than two dozen European organisations have filed antitrust complaints against Google.

Many are from powerful publishing groups and online firms in Germany. They have previously called on the European regulator to force the American search engine to stop blocking competition in areas like online maps, shopping and travel services.

And in France, lawyers have this week called on Google to reveal its secret formula for ranking websites – but Google argues such transparency would expose its business secrets to rivals and leave the search engine vulnerable to spam.

Google and the EU commission declined to comment last night.

Vestager's department is also looking into the tax affairs of Amazon, Starbucks, Fiat and Apple.

In a recent Sunday Times article she said big companies should pay more as they 'are part of our society.'