Google fined record $2.7 bn in first antitrust case

BRUSSELS: EU antitrust regulators hit Alphabet unit Google with a record 2.42 billion euro ($2.7 billion) fine on Tuesday, taking a tough line in the first of three investigations into the company’s dominance in searches and smartphones. It is the biggest fine the EU has ever imposed on a single company in an antitrust case, exceeding a 1.06 billion euro sanction handed down to US chipmaker Intel in 2009.

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 per day of up to 5 per cent of Alphabet’s average daily global turnover.

The fine, equivalent to 3 per cent of Alphabet’s turnover, is the biggest regulatory setback for Google, which settled with US enforcers in 2013 without a penalty after agreeing to change some of its search practices.

The EU competition enforcer has also charged Google with using its Android mobile operating system to crush rivals, a case that could potentially be the most damaging for the company, with the system used in most smartphones.

The company has also been accused of blocking rivals in online search advertising. The Commission found that Google, with a market share in searches of over 90 per cent in most European countries, had systematically given prominent placement in searches to its own comparison shopping service and demoted those of rivals in search results. The action follows a seven-year investigation prompted by scores of complaints from rivals such as US consumer review website Yelp, TripAdvisor, UK price comparison site Foundem, News Corp and lobbying group FairSearch. — Reuters