EU watchdogs will keep eye on chastised Google for years to come

THE European Union is hiring watchdogs to make sure Google does not continue to abuse its internet search monopoly after its record fine.

The European Commission, which this week hit Google with a €2.4bn (£2.1bn) penalty for years of squeezing out rival shopping sites on its search engine, has given the company 90 days to change its ways or face further fines.

It is spending up to €10m to appoint a team of technology consultants, who will track how Google complies with the commission’s demand that it make its searches fairer.

Google’s algorithm-driven search results will be scrutinised for five years to ensure it is not abusing the monopoly it has. But according to the EU’S tender document, it could be on parole as long as eight years from now, if an appeal takes three years.

If it is deemed not to be complying with the commission’s order, it faces fines of up to €4bn a year – 5pc of the global revenues of Google’s parent company Alphabet.

Google was hit with Europe’s largest antitrust fine on Tuesday after a sevenyear investigation into claims it had used the power of its search engine to crush rivals to its price comparison shopping service.

Margrethe Vestager, the European Competition Commissioner, said it had “abused its market dominance as a search engine by promoting its own comparison shopping service, and demoting those of competitors”. Google said it was considering an appeal.

The EU tender calls for experts in search engine analysis that will provide technical expertise on whether Google is relegating its rivals. It is likely to mean the company’s prized search algorithm facing significant regulatory scrutiny over the coming years.

Google will have to send reports to the EU every four months to show it is complying, starting from the date it makes the changes ahead of a late September deadline. The commission has fast-tracked the tender process to make sure it can assess its reports by then. It is up to Google to decide how it complies with the commission’s order, which states that the search engine must “treat competing comparison shopping services no less favourably than its own”.

Google faces two further investigations into claims of monopoly abuse, related to its Android operating system and Adsense advertising network.