On Wednesday, the European Commission announced it was looking into complaints that Google disadvantages competitors by lowering their search rankings. The accusations are just the most recent in an ever-growing list of grievances with Google.

The guardians of competition in the European marketplace are concerned. In early February, three of Google's competitors lodged complaints against the search engine giant with the European Commission. The French legal search engine ejustice.fr, the British price comparison site Foundem and the German online shopping site, Ciao -  which was bought by Microsoft in 2008 and is now known as Ciao Bing, after Microsoft's own search engine - all complained about Google's business practices. Their main complaint: That Google disadvantages its competitors through its search functions.

On Wednesday, the European Commission announced that it has issued formal questionnaires seeking information from Google. The Commission did not announce a deadline for Google's reply, but four weeks tends to be standard.

Both the European Commission and Google have been quick to note that such a catalogue of questions does not automatically lead to an official antitrust inquiry. It is merely a preliminary investigation to ascertain whether the allegations against Google are worth following up. Still, the move is ominous for Google. The Commission is known for its tough stance on IT giants - and it has already shown that it has the know-how and resources to win long legal battles against computer industry giants.