Google bows to EU demands

Google will comply with Europe’s demands to change the way it runs its shopping search service, a rare instance of the Internet giant bowing to regulatory pressure to avoid more fines.

It faced a Tuesday deadline to tell the European Union how it plans to follow an order to stop discriminating against rival shopping search services. A Google spokeswoman said it is sharing that plan with regulators, but declined to comment further.

The EU fined Google a record $2.7 billion in late June for breaking antitrust rules by skewing its general search results to unfairly favor its own shopping service over rival sites. The company had 60 days to propose how it would “stop its illegal content” and 90 days to make changes to its display of shopping results when users search for a product. Those changes need to be put in place by Sept. 28 to stave off a risk that the EU could fine the company 5 percent of daily revenue for each day it fails to comply.

“The obligation to comply is fully Google’s responsibility,” the European Commission said in an email, without elaborating on what the company must do. Google has the option of challenging the fine and the antitrust order to the EU courts, which can take years to reach a final decision.

The EU now has a month to check whether Google’s planned changes are sufficient. Regulators are also expected to levy fines in separate investigations into Google’s Android mobilephone software and the AdSense advertising service. Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust chief, has also threatened probes on travel or map services.

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