Google could face a triple-digital million euro fine for abusing its market dominance in search under the EU rules.
The European Union (EU) is planning to fine Google a high triple-digit million euro sum as part of its antitrust investigation, in which the big tech company is accused of abusing its market position to favour its own services in online search results.
The fine will come as part of the EU’s enforcement of antitrust laws under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), designed to mitigate the power of big tech. The decision is expected to be announced before the European Commission goes on a summer break, reported Handelsblatt.
Under the DMA, the commission can fine an organisation up to 10% of its global annual turnover for a first offence, and 20% for a repeated breach. Using Alphabet’s (Google’s parent company) most recent revenue reports, this places the upper limit at more than $35bn – making it the largest DMA fine to date.
However, the commission is reportedly more interested in establishing compliance over imposing a penalty, according to spokesperson Thomas Regnier in an emailed statement to Reuters.
“Even with our negotiations on future solutions, we will not hesitate to move to the next steps as soon as possible,” he added.
Google has been critical of the commission’s findings, but has outlined changes it made to search that look to resolve the case, calling them “the biggest downgrade in the product’s history”. The company argued this would create a “second-rate experience for Europeans to the benefit of a few self-interested complainants”.
The fine comes at a time Google is facing multiple investigations.
In the UK, a group of advertisers launched a legal challenge against the search giant, alleging it holds a monopoly in the display advertising market.
Claimants accused Google of prioritising its own display advertising services and excluding potential competitors, leaving advertisers to pay for a less effective service. The group ultimately alleges Google abused its dominant market position in online display advertising.
