Google is set to face a record antitrust fine from the European Union today for promoting its own shopping search service over those of smaller rivals, according to two people familiar with the probe that has dramatically sped up in recent days.
The fine for Google, expected to top a previous USD1.2 billion record, will skirt the usual rules that see all of the EU’s 28 commissioners discuss controversial decisions at a weekly meeting. Instead, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager will lay out a decision that’s been rubber-stamped by her colleagues in a so-called written procedure, said one of the people who spoke on condition of anonymity.
An announcement will cap a seven-year probe fueled by complaints from News Corp., Axel Springer SE and Microsoft Corp. European politicians have called on the EU to sanction Google or even break it up while U.S. critics claim regulators are targeting successful American firms.
The EU’s investigation focuses on how Google shows searches for products, a lucrative market that links consumers to retailers. Smaller price-comparison websites say they’ve been harmed because Google’s own shopping service prominently shows photos and prices of products above search results and Google fails to show rival sites high enough in the search results to allow them to pull in any meaningful advertising revenue.
Google said it was continuing to engage constructively with the European Commission and believes “strongly that our innovations in online shopping have been good for shoppers, retailers and competition.” Bloomberg
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