UPDATED 20:41 EDT / SEPTEMBER 11 2017

NEWS

Google launches appeal against record EU antitrust fine

Google Inc.’s parent company Alphabet Inc. said it will lodge an appeal with the European Commission over its decision to fine it $2.9 billion for abusing its dominance of the search engine market.

The move does not come as a surprise, even less so following the news that Intel Corp. managed to win an appeal last week in an unrelated antitrust case. Europe’s highest court last week said a €1.1 billion fine levied against Intel in 2009 should be re-examined.

Regarding Google’s case, the web giant has already said it will comply with the changes that the EU Commission has ordered it must make to the way it displays search engine results. Google was found guilty of abusing its monopoly on the search market by giving prominent placement to its comparison shopping service and demoting rival offerings.

Google has until Sept. 28 to make these changes. If it fails to do so by then, it could be fined up to 5 percent of its daily revenue each day.

In addition, Google is facing two more antitrust investigations by the EU regarding its Android platform and online advertising network. The EU Commission is expected to reach verdicts on both of those cases later this year.

The probe into Google’s search engine dominance began way back in November 2010. At the time, then EU Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia said he hoped to avoid any formal investigations and fines. However, Google’s original fix for the problem was to simply rank sponsored search results, or advertisements, at the top of its page, a solution that failed to satisfy the current EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager.

Google’s appeal will be heard by the Luxembourg-based General Court, Europe’s second-highest, though any ruling is likely to be several years away.

Image: 422737/Pixabay

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