Italy anti-trust body launches investigation into Google`s news website

According to Reuters, Italy's anti-trust body is opening an investigation into Google's Italian news website after local papers complained that they were forced to appear on the site.

The Italian Federation of Newspaper Editors had complained that any publication that did not agree to appear on the website "would automatically be excluded from Google's search engine," the competition authority said. The authority had notified Google Italy during an inspection carried out on Thursday with Italy's finance police.

The Italian newspapers said Google's use of their online material on its Italian website hurt their ability "to attract users and advertisers to their own home pages," but if they chose not to appear they were barred from its search engine.

The anti-trust watchdog said it would look into the "possibility that this could distort the online advertising market."