Google EU fine is just the start, with two more penalties possibly on the way.
According to the decision of the European Commission, Google must pay a penalty of EUR 2,42 billion for breaking antitrust law.
The European Commission states that Google advantaged its own Google Shopping products in the results of the Google search engine to the detriment of other providers of goods. Links to Google Shopping products were and are at the top of the search results page, while the positions of competing services as determined by Google’s search algorithms appear only on lower positions.
Within 90 days Google will have to change its search algorithm ranking system. Otherwise, a penalty will be imposed of up to 5% of the average daily global selling of Alphabet, Google’s parent company.
European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said that what Google did was illegal under EU antitrust rules. With this decision, a precedent was set for future investigations.
The European Commission investigates two more cases in which Google allegedly abuses the rules of competition in the free market: the Android operating system and AdSense.
