Newspapers complaining about Google (NSDQ: GOOG) News? Not new. But in Italy, they’ve managed to spur the government into investigating whether the company has abused its dominant position on the internet. The Italian Competition Authority searched the company’s offices in Milan this morning, according to several news reports.

SEE ALSO: Google To Newspapers: Go Ahead And Block Us With Robots.txt If You Like

The investigation follows a complaint by the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers about a lack of transparency in how Google handles Google News. Association President Carlo Malinconico tells the NYT that his group wants more information about the ranking process so that papers can adjust their online content accordingly. The main allegation: If publishers don’t make their stories available on Google News, they also don’t show up in Google’s search results. “Publishers provide much of the content on the Internet, but they get nearly nothing for it. This is not fair, in our opinion. Our feeling is we lose more than we gain,” Malinconico says.