The Commission is investigating Google over a raft of allegedly anticompetitive practices that it uses to push its own services over those of rivals in its results, and to lock advertising customers into its network. Google had managed to allay most of the regulator's concerns with its repeated settlement proposals, but the issue of how to display rivals' services remained a major sticking point.

A senior US legislator has accused the former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald of illegally selling National Security Agency documents provided to him by the whistleblower Edward Snowden. Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House intelligence committee, suggested Greenwald was a "thief" after he worked with news organizations who paid for stories based on the documents.

Metro is launching a GBP300,000 marketing campaign for its sports reporting service Club Metro following high traffic over the winter football transfer window. The service, which launched in August, received more than one million unique visitors in January and its Facebook page, which launched in December, has gained more than 22,000 likes.

According to new data published by Harris Interactive for The Webby Awards, a massive 68% of social media users aged 18-34 are more likely to purchase an item or check out a service if their friend has posted a recommendation about it, highlighting the impact of opinionated social sharing on brands.

European Parliament has approved a legislation which will facilitate online providers to get licences to stream music in more than one EU country. The legislation is expected to support the development of online music services for consumers across the region as well as offer better protection to the artists' rights.

The Financial Times this week released a refreshed version of its Android App, available on Android smartphones and tablets using operating system 4.0 and above. The app is now available to download for free from Google Play and will be updated for existing users. Four features have improved the application.

YouTube visitors watch more than six billion hours of video every month, but not all of those eyeballs are real. Google has announced a crackdown on "fraudulent views" on YouTube, from channels seeking to artificially inflate their view counts. The move follows a warning delivered by YouTube to its network of channel owners in November 2013.

Bauer Media today launches a digital-first lifestyle brand for young women with a social, mobile focus based on reader habits. The Debrief, Bauer's first digital-first brand, will focus on social media to deliver relevant content "based on what we think our girl wants at what time on what platform".

According to the Marketing Budgets Report 2014 from Econsultancy and Responsys, only one-fifth of companies are planning to increase traditional budgets this year, compared to the 71% planning on upping their digital marketing spend, as the power of social and content marketing continues to dominate.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph changed its online coverage of the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman following protests on Twitter. After people condemned the headline, "Kids grieve for junkie actor dad", as disrespectful, the paper changed it to "Revealed: Seymour Hoffman's last hours".