Google fined €2.42bn in online shopping antitrust case

The European Commission has fined Google €2.42 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules and abusing its market dominance as a search engine by giving an illegal advantage to its own comparison shopping service.

It is the largest ever fine in this type of antitrust case, ahead of Intel’s €1.06 billion fine in 2009.

Google must now end the conduct for its ‘Google Shopping’ service within 90 days or face penalty payments of up to 5% of the average daily worldwide turnover of parent company Alphabet.

In a statement released on Monday, Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of competition policy, said: “Google has come up with many innovative products and services that have made a difference to our lives.

“But 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.

“What Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules. It denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate. And most importantly, it denied European consumers a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation.”

It is likely Google will appeal against the decision and in the past has denied that it has breached Europe’s competition rules. It also says that its online services help Europe’s digital economy to grow.

Under European rules, Google will now have to draft a proposal for change that will prove to regulators it can treat competitors fairly.