The European Parliament has voted in favour of breaking Google up, as a solution to complaints that it favours its own services in search results. While the politicians have no power to enforce a break-up, the vote sends a clear message to European regulators to get tough on the net giant. The ultimate decision will rest with EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager who is looking into an anti-competitive case lodged by Google's rivals in 2010.

Of course, US politicians are furious with the EU, although they themselves considered doing something similar to Microsoft, for exactly the same reasons. Google has around 90 per cent market share for search in Europe and the commission is looking at the way Google displays its own vertical search services compared with other, competing products. It is also supposed to investigate how Google copies content from other websites - such as restaurant reviews - to include within its own services. Issues like the advertising around the search terms people use are also under the microscope and restrictions on advertisers from moving their online ad campaigns to rival search engines.

Predecessor Joaquin Almunia tried and failed to settle the case. A series of concessions made by Google were rejected, leading Almunia to suggest that the only option was a fine. This could be up to $5bn. The Commission has never before ordered the break-up of any company, and many believe it is unlikely to do so now.

Politicians are desperate to find a solution to the long-running anti-competitive dispute with Google, which has done little to endear itself to EU politicians – after all it can’t even claim that it is paying its full share of tax in the EU. The break-up motion was brought by Andreas Schwab, a German Christian Democrat, and Spanish liberal Ramon Tremosa. They think that the best way to resolve the row with the net giant was to separate search engines from other commercial services thereby ensuring a level playing field for rivals in Europe.