“What Google has done is illegal
under EU antitrust rules. It denied other companies the chance to compete on
the merits and to innovate. And most importantly, it denied European consumers
a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation,”
The EU antitrust regulators hit
Alphabet (GOOGL.O) 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 U.S. chipmaker Intel (INTC.O) in 2009.
The fine, equivalent to 3 percent
of Alphabet’s turnover, is the biggest regulatory setback for Google, which
settled with U.S. enforcers in 2013 without a penalty after agreeing to change
some of its search practices.
The European Commission said the
world’s most popular internet search engine has 90 days to stop favoring its
own shopping service or face a further penalty per day of up to 5 percent of
Alphabet’s average daily global turnover.
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 percent 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.
“What Google has done is illegal
under EU antitrust rules. It denied other companies the chance to compete on
the merits and to innovate. And most importantly, it denied European consumers
a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation,” European
Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
Google said its data showed
people preferred links taking them directly to products they want and not to
websites where they have to repeat their search.
“We respectfully disagree with
the conclusions announced today. We will review the Commission’s decision in
detail as we consider an appeal, and we look forward to continuing to make our
case,” Kent Walker, Google’s general counsel, said in a statement.
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