Google: European antitrust fine record ever closer

Assuming ever greater consistency the idea that Google is fined by the European Commission with a heavy penalty for abuse of dominant position in the search services market. If the outcome of the decision, unfortunately for Google, seems to be going in the direction of confirming the infringement, it is not yet clear how much the search giant will be expected to pay for it has been committed. To provide some clues about it is the The Telegraph, whose sources confirm this will be a record penalty, is the highest ever imposed by the European antitrust authority for this type of infraction.

The European Commission, the source adds, might decide to punish Google with a fine amounting to EUR 3 billion, which exceeds that of the record fine of 1.1 billion euro from the European antitrust Intel condemned in 2014. officials from the European Commission could make official the news before the summer break, possibly as early as June, although the sources contacted by the Telegraph confirms that the exact amount of the sation is not yet established. The maximum fine is equal to 6.6 billion euro, equivalent to approximately one-tenth of the annual turnover of Google overall.

An especially heavy penalty for two reasons: on the one hand the amount of the fine would be commensurate to the period in which the abuse was perpetrated, a particularly long period started in late 2010, on the other hand, the Commission intends to impose a penalty exemplary to condemn conduct contrary to the rules of competition and the market. For now, neither Google, nor the European Commission have issued statements on the new of The Telegraph reports.

The accusation did the European antitrust authority to Google are particularly heavy: Bigg was formally indicted for promoting its comparison service at the expense of prices of similar services of competitors, penalized in search results. A second charge was due to the role of software for searches (Google Search) preinstalled by Google in Android terminals, a choice that contributes to the widespread use of the Google search engine to the detriment of competing solutions. Marghrethe Vestager, EU Competition Commissioner, last Friday, has considered the possibility of further examination on Google load relative to further research markets, such as the travel and cartographic data.