Google, the search engine juggernaut, has dominated the world of Internet for a good number of years. The company’s rapid growth has led them to expand to several other businesses including the development of desktop applications, mobile applications and an operating system called Android, a direct competition against Apple’s very own operating system - the iOS.

However, with all the success the company has achieved over the years, they have made a few business moves that could only be described as Questionable at best. With that said, here are some of the things the company has done that they probably want you to forget.

Google hid negative stories about Google

The search engine giant apparently penalizes articles that contain adverse facts about Google, according to a report by Gizmodo. A writer from Gizmodo, Kashmir Hill, claimed that she witnessed this questionable act by Google firsthand.

Hill said that in 2011 when she was still working at Forbes, she met with Google representatives who were promoting their social network – Google Plus. The representatives made it clear that Forbes should always feature the “+1” button on their pieces; otherwise, Forbes would suffer in search rankings.

Hill understood this as blackmail and wrote about it in an article and published it. The company threatened Forbes that their rankings from the search engine would suffer unless they took the piece down, in which Forbes complied.

The European Union fined Google $2.7 billion

Earlier this year, the search giant was fined by the european union for a record-breaking $2.7 billion. According to Wired, the reason for this monumental fine was for Google’s monopolization in countries like Germany, where 97 percent of Internet searches goes through Google.

For instance, if a user is searching for things to buy, Google shows their links to Google shops.

Meanwhile, competitors without their own search engine, like Yelp, remained stuck at page four in search results. This meant users could only see products connected with Google and wouldn't see any other products unless the user goes through the next couple of pages in the search results.

According to the EU, Google was taking advantage of their dominance and crushing their competition in the process.

Google fired a scholar for agreeing with the European Union

The New America Foundation is a think tank financially supported by Google. NAF created a project called Open Markets to speak out against entities that use money and power to monopolize others.

In August 2017, The Guardian reported that Barry Lynn, the team leader of Open Markets, was fired after praising EU’s decision to fine Google. Furthermore, Google discontinued Open Markets itself.
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