Update | EU hits Google with record US$2.7 billion fine for ‘denying other companies chance to compete’
The action came after a seven-year long investigation prompted by scores of complaints from rivals
EU antitrust regulators hit Alphabet unit Google with a record €2.42 billion (US$2.7 billion) fine on Tuesday, indicating they will probably take a tough line with the company in two other ongoing cases.
The European Commission said the world’s most popular internet search engine has 90 days to stop favouring its own shopping service or face a further penalty of up to 5 per cent of Alphabet’s average daily global turnover.
The Commission found that Google had systematically given prominent placement in searches to its own comparison shopping service and demoted those of rivals in search results.
[Google] denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate
Hard-charging European Commission competition chief Margrethe Vestager said Google had “abused its market dominance” as the world’s most popular search engine to give illegal advantage to its Google Shopping service.