EU announces $2.7B fine against Google for favoring its shopping service in search results
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The European Union has fined Google a record $2.7 billion for using its search results to promote its comparison shopping service at the top of the search screen.
EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said Google violated European antitrust rules and abused its market dominance, report the Washington Post and the New York Times.
The fine is more than double the largest penalty imposed by the EU in this type of antitrust case, according to the Times. The Post said the fine “reinforced Vestager’s emerging role as the world’s most aggressive antitrust regulator.”
Vestager said the antitrust decision could be used as a framework when investigating other antitrust complaints regarding search results that have been filed against Google.
Google issued a statement saying it respectfully disagrees with the decision and it is considering an appeal.
“When you shop online, you want to find the products you’re looking for quickly and easily. And advertisers want to promote those same products,” senior vice president and general counsel Kent Walker said in the statement. “That’s why Google shows shopping ads, connecting our users with thousands of advertisers, large and small, in ways that are useful for both.”
