Brussels, March 15: The EU’s anti-trust regulator is to slap tech giant Google with a new fine over unfair competition practices, sources told AFP Friday.
Brussels has targeted the Silicon Valley firm’s AdSense advertising service, saying it restricts some client websites from displaying ads from third parties. The decision in the long-running case, first reported by the Financial Times, is the latest anti-trust salvo against Google, which has already received nearly seven billion euros in EU fines.
Two sources close to the matter said the verdict would land next week, most likely Wednesday. “We are in the process of finalising the AdSense case,” EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said earlier this week.
In July 2018, the US giant was ordered to pay a record 4.34 billion euros for abusing the dominant position of Android, its smartphone operating system, to help assure the supremacy of its search engine. A year earlier it slapped Google with a fine of 2.42 billion euros for abusing its dominant position by favouring its “Google Shopping” price comparison service in search results. Google has appealed both decisions to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.