Europe versus Google: EC applies record-breaking £2.1 billion anti-trust fine

European Commission says that Google promoted its own services in search results, denying competitors opportunities

The European Commission (EC) has fined Google a record-breaking €2.4bn (around £2.1bn), for artificially inflating the popularity of its Shopping service in search results. It is the largest antitrust fine handed out by the EC to date, trumping the €1.06bn fine handed to Intel back in 2009.

In its decision, the EC said that Google "abused its market dominance as a search engine by giving an illegal advantage to another Google product, its comparison shopping service.

Google has been ordered to end the preferential treatment of its own service within 90 days. If it doesn't, the EC can hit the firm with additional penalty payments of up to 5 per cent of the average daily worldwide turnover of Alphabet, Google's parent company.

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager , in charge of competition policy, said: "Google has come up with many innovative products and services that have made a difference to our lives. That's a good thing. 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."

In a statement, Google said that it "respectfully" disagrees with the EC's decision, and said it is considering whether to appeal.

"When you shop online, you want to find the products you're looking for quickly and easily. And advertisers want to promote those same products. That's why Google shows shopping ads, connecting our users with thousands of advertisers, large and small, in ways that are useful for both.

"We respectfully disagree with the conclusions announced today. We will review the Commission's decision in detail as we consider an appeal, and we look forward to continuing to make our case," a spokesperson for the company said in an email.