"European Union regulators on Friday hit Google with a 2.95 billion euro ($3.5 billion) fine for breaching the bloc's competition rules by favoring its own digital advertising services, marking the fourth such antitrust penalty for the company. The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc's executive branch and top antitrust enforcer, also ordered the U.S. tech giant to end its "self-preferencing practices" and take steps to stop "conflicts of interest" along the advertising technology supply chain."
"Google said the decision was "wrong" and that it would appeal. "It imposes an unjustified fine and requires changes that will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to make money," Lee-Anne Mulholland, the company's global head of regulatory affairs, said in a statement. The decision was long overdue, coming more than two years after the European Commission announced antitrust charges against Google."
EU regulators fined Google €2.95 billion for breaching competition rules by favoring its own digital advertising services and ordered the company to stop self-preferencing and address conflicts of interest along the advertising technology supply chain. The fine is the fourth major antitrust penalty against Google. Regulators had previously considered forced divestment but did not require it in this decision. Google said the ruling was wrong and plans to appeal, saying the fine and remedies will harm European businesses. The decision follows more than two years of investigation and coincides with broader regulatory and geopolitical tensions over technology.
Read at San Diego Union-Tribune
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