Google facing €1bn EU fine for search engine manipulation

Google's parent company Alphabet could face a fine as large as €1bn from the European Commission over how the tech giant controls its search engine, according to reports.

The Financial Times reported on Friday that the executive arm of the EU is ready to slap Google with the fine, which could be the largest antitrust punishment handed out by the competition regulator.

Google has been the subject of a probe from the Commission for the last seven years, with the company having been suspected of manipulating its search engine to place its comparison shopping service above others'.

The probe was triggered by a variety of complaints made by Google’s rivals in the US and Europe.

Google has been the subject of a probe from the Commission for the last seven years

European regulators have led a recent crackdown on some of the biggest US tech firms, with Apple recently the subject of a demand to pay back €13bn in unpaid taxes to the Irish government.

The largest fine handed out for an antitrust case was given out to chipmaker Intel in 2009, when it was ordered to pay €1.06bn

The total fine that can be charged to Alphabet stands at a maximum of 10% of the company’s total revenue during the period of time under investigation, which would amount to $90bn.

Perhaps even more significantly, a ruling that decides Google abused its monopoly of power would pave the way for a series of compensation cases from rivals which felt aggrieved by the alleged stunting of competition.