The Antimonopoly Committee of the European Union has fined Google for $ 2.7 billion (2.4 billion euros) for abuse of dominant market position in search engines.
According to the statement of the European Commission, it was expressed in the provision of its own service, Google Shopping illegal benefits.
In particular, the report says that the results of the search products through Google distorted in favor of its own service Google Shopping. And ratings of competitors were significantly underestimated, and their proposals were not given on the first page of the search.
«Google is abusing its dominance of the market by lowering the rating of its competitors,» said European Commissioner for competition, Margrethe Vestager. «What Google did is illegal under the antitrust rules of the European Union, as consumers are deprived of the opportunity of choice for the competition,» added the Commissioner.
This is a record fine of the Antimonopoly Committee. Google representatives said that the company, on the contrary, helps both consumers and advertisers.
«When you shop online, you want to quickly and easily find the products you need. And advertisers want to promote the same products,» said a senior Google Vice President and General counsel Kent Walker. «We absolutely do not agree with the decision announced today.»
The decision of the Commission, within 90 days the company should stop its illegal actions, or the Alphabet (parent company Google) will be subject to additional penalties.
