Google has inspired many lives who dream of being innovative entrepreneurs and rule the world. But, do you imagine that even the internet tech giant can do illegal blunders? Yes! The company has been imposed with a heavy fine of $2.7 billion (€2.42 billion) by the antitrust officials of Europe for such a case.
It was claimed that Google had been manipulating its search results since 2008. And in 2010, an investigation was launched against it, after filing of complaints by several rivals. After a full-fledged investigation of seven years, Google was found guilty. The company lost its battle on Tuesday, the 27th June 2017. And, the European Commission has charged it hugely for breaking EU competition law.
The most popular search engine has played against the EU completion law by misleading the search-engine results and promoting its own statistics at the top of search results. Therefore, the Commission has penalised the company with an amount calculated based its income from its comparison shopping service in Europe.
According to the European Commission, "Comparison shopping services rely to a large extent on traffic to be competitive. 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."
The EU Commission has also warned Google to end its illegal practices within three months. Failing which, it will further be penalised with nearly 5% of the daily turnover of Alphabet, the parent company of Google. So, either Google has to modify its search algorithm or face further penalties.
However, Google has disagreed with the allegations made on it today. But, there are two additional EU antitrust investigations going on over the tech giant. It’s said that the company unfairly compels mobile companies to preinstall Google services in order to promote its products over rivals. In addition, an investigation is expected against its AdSense business.
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