• European Proposal and US Response: A European proposal to unbundle search engines from other commercial businesses, potentially leading to the breakup of Google, has elicited a response from US lawmakers.

  • FT Report: Capitol Hill hit back at EU lawmakers on Tuesday for politicizing an antitrust investigation into Google as tensions rose before a European parliamentary vote calling for the possible break-up of the technology group.
  • Lawmaker Letters: Lawmakers sent letters to European counterparts expressing alarm at the proposal. The letters don't specifically mention Google, but the European draft resolution calls for the European Commission to consider unbundling search engines from other commercial services. The resolution in the European parliament is likely to pass on Thursday but is nonbinding.
• Different Views: One European MP argued that search engines like Google shouldn't use their market power to push other commercial activities. However, EU digital commissioner Günther Oettinger spoke out against a breakup of Google.

• US Lawmaker Positions:

  • Bob Goodlatte (R-VA): Wrote to European MPs calling himself troubled by the idea of antitrust enforcement motivated by politics rather than factual and legal principles. He believes antitrust enforcement should be independent of politics and rooted in international principles.
  • Ron Wyden (D-OR), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Dave Camp (R-MI), and Sander Levin (D-MI): Sent a letter saying "proposals that seem to target US technology companies" raised questions about the EU's commitment to open markets.
  • Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and 11 other US Congress members: In a third letter, they said the resolution would deter innovation and investment from US-based Internet companies and described the transformative impact of online services and the contributions of US companies to the European economy. They expressed concern that the resolution would stem cross-border data flows.

Overall, there is a significant dispute between the US and the EU over the proposed unbundling of search engines, with the US lawmakers expressing concerns about the potential negative impacts on US technology companies and the principles of free markets.