Google gets caught for manipulating search results with $2.7 Billion antitrust fine.
Google has just lost its biggest regulatory battle!
Google has been hit with a record-breaking fine of 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion, £2.1 billion) by European regulators for unfairly manipulating search results since 2008.
After a lengthy seven-year investigation that was launched in 2010 the European Commission on Tuesday imposed this ‘biggest even financial penalty’ against the internet tech giant for breaking EU competition law.
Since 2008 Google has used its search dominance to distort search-engine results to promote its own shopping comparison service at the top of all search results.
“Comparison shopping services rely to a large extent on traffic to be competitive.” European Commission says in a press release.
“The evidence shows that consumers click far more often on results that are more visible, i.e. the results appearing higher up in Google’s search results. More traffic leads to more clicks and generates revenue.”
According to the Commission the amount of penalty has been calculated from Google’s income from its comparison shopping service in Europe. Google’s total revenue in the year 2016 was almost $90 Billion.
“What Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules,” Europe’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, said in a statement. “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.”
In a statement issued immediately after the ruling, Google said it “respectfully” disagreed and was considering whether to appeal.
