Google's executive chairman has moved to diffuse the escalating speculation surrounding the EU's potential investigation into anti-competitive practices at the company.
Executive chairman Eric Schmidt seemed almost blasé about the potential for an investigation, saying that things were at an early stage and that the company had received minimal correspondence so far.
"I spoke to the commissioner and we received a letter on Monday. That is all we have heard from them, we have not received anything else from them.
"We're going to have a series of meetings with them. We think we're OK, we think we're [within the law].
Four areas of concern
When further questioned about the concerns, Schmidt became a little more bullish. "I think I just said we're not aware of anything we've done wrong, but we're happy to be educated to the contrary."
Schmidt was then asked about the letter, which leaked and indicated four key areas of concern for the EU including that Google supposedly gives preferential treatment to its own services in search results.
"The way we've designed Google is pro-competitive and open – if it's not, we want to hear why. The letter is very clear, he is encouraging us to have a conversation with him. I'm not a lawyer and neither are you."
