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Google has been gut-punched by the European Commission for abusing its search monopoly to squeeze out other players on the Web. Europe’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, had been expected to hit Google with a fine of around €1 billion, but the actual number is far larger: €2.42 billion, the largest anti-monopoly fine ever issued.
In addition to the fine, Google will be required to change its search algorithm so that every competing service is fairly crawled, indexed, ranked, and displayed. If Google fails to remedy its anti-competitive conduct within 90 days it will face daily penalty payments of up to 5 percent of the daily worldwide turnover of Google’s parent company Alphabet. The commission’s full statement on the decision makes for quite damning reading.
Google, as reported by the AFP news agency, “respectfully disagrees” with the EU’s fine and is considering an appeal. We have asked Google for comment and will update this story when it responds.
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Source: Ars Technica – Google must stop demoting competitors in search results, EU rules