Google appears to be in hot water over allegations that it’s deliberately penalizing rival search engines in its search results.

The European Commission, Europe’s highest antitrust authority [led by Joaquin Almunia], is currently looking into “some allegations of anticompetitive conduct in relation to search,” Almunia said in his speech in London. Although the work is at an early stage, “I am looking at the allegations very carefully,” given the importance of online search to the marketplace, Almunia added.

The commission began investigating Google in late February, spurred on by complaints from three competitors.

Two of the competitors are British search engine Foundem and French legal search engine ejustice.fr. Which will likely give Google a strong foundation in any official action. After all, I don’t recall Google complaining that Yahoo and Alta Vista were too dominant and didn’t rank “Google.com” high enough in their search results.

You’re either popular or you’re not. What world do we live in where your biggest rival has to help you try and beat it?