Google slapped with record €2.4bn fine by EU

The European Commission has hit US tech giant Google with a record €2.4bn fine for promoting its own shopping comparison service ahead of competitors.

Google has been ordered to pay the fine and cease the anti-competitive practices within 90 days or face further action. The fine is the largest dished out to a company by the Commission for attempting to interfere with the market.

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

EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that the US firm had abused its market dominance.

Vestager said: “Google’s strategy for its comparison shopping service wasn’t just about attracting customers by making its product better than those of its rivals. Instead, Google abused its market dominance as a search engine by promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results, and demoting those of competitors.”

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

Google’s senior vice-president and general counsel Kent Walker said in a blog post on Tuesday that the firm would be considering an appeal.

“Given the evidence, we respectfully disagree with the conclusions announced today,” Walker wrote. “We will review the Commission’s decision in detail as we consider an appeal, and we look forward to continuing to make our case.”