In a speech Tuesday, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager drew parallels between Google for Jobs and the company's comparison shopping service, which was the subject of a $2.7 billion antitrust fine in 2017.
"We're looking right now at whether the same thing may have happened with other parts of Google's business – like the job search business known as Google for Jobs," Vestager said.
A European Commission spokesperson confirmed to CNBC a preliminary investigation into Google for Jobs is ongoing but declined to comment on timing or outcome. A preliminary investigation involves gathering information and could, or could not, lead to a formal antitrust probe. Formal EU antitrust investigations can take years to complete and can result in fines of up to 10% of a company's annual revenue.
The EU spokesperson told CNBC that the Commission's antitrust decision on Google in 2017 "gives us a framework to look at other specialized search services, such as Google jobs and local search," but added each service must be examined individually. At stake is what Vestager calls companies acting as "both player and referee." In the case of Google's jobs search tool, for example, the company could be prioritizing its own jobs listings platform within Google search results.
In a statement, a Google spokesperson said: "Finding a job can be tough, so we worked with jobs providers to create a better experience on Search. Any provider-- from individual employers to job listing platforms-- can use this feature in Search, and many of them have seen a significant increase in the number of job applications they receive. Since launch, we've made a number of changes to address feedback in Europe.
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