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EU Fines Google A Whopping €2.42 Billion For Fudging E-Commerce Search Results In Its Favour
The Google logo at the W20 Conference (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Antitrust regulators in the European Union (EU) have slapped a record-breaking fine of €2.42 billion ($2.7 billion) on Alphabet, Google’s parent company for favouring its own online shopping (e-commerce) firms in search results, reports Reuters. Google has been given 90 days to stop favouring its own service or end up paying an additional fine of five per cent of Alphabet’s global daily turnover.
The is the biggest fine any company has faced from the EU, exceeding the 2009 fine of €1.06 billion that was slapped on Intel. The fine was imposed after a seven-year long investigation prompted by rivals such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, Foundem, Reuters and FairSearch, a lobbying group. Regulators have also charged Google with using its Android system to ‘crush’ rivals, a charge that could have far-reaching effects.
Google responded saying that it disagreed with the ruling.
The EU antitrust regulator had in 2007 fined technology giant Microsoft and forced them to release a version of its Windows operating system without the default Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player citing violations of antitrust practices to gain monopoly.
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