The European Commission has fined Google 2.42 billion euros. This is reported on the site office.
The company was found guilty of violating antitrust laws. The regulator believes that Google has abused its dominant position in the search market to promote the Google Shopping service.
The Internet giant must stop its anti-competitive behavior for 90 days. Otherwise, for each day of delay the company will have to pay an amount equal to 5% of the average daily turnover of the holding of Alphabet (the owner of Google).
European Commissioner for Competition Margaret Vestager :
“Google has created many innovative products and services that have changed our lives. It’s good. However, Google’s strategy with respect to the trade offer comparison service was not limited to attracting customers, making its product better than those of its competitors. Instead, Google abused its dominant position in the search engine market by promoting its service in the search results and lowering the services of its competitors.
What Google has done is a violation of EU antitrust laws. By this behavior, he did not give other companies the opportunity to compete and introduce innovations. And most importantly, he denied the right of European consumers to genuine choice of services and to all the benefits of innovation. ”
The press service of Google has not yet commented on the decision of the regulator.
Recall that the European Commission has filed antitrust charges against Google regarding product search and Google Shopping in April 2015. In particular, the company was accused of distorting search results in favor of its own service, from which both competitors and users suffered. All attempts by the IT giant to resolve this issue have not brought results.
The fact that Google faces a fine in the case of product search, it became known earlier the month. Later there were reports that the amount of the fine will exceed 1 billion euros and set a new record in this area.
A detailed analysis of the antitrust conflict between Google and the EU can be found here .
