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EU: Google begins fight over €2.4b fine

 |  September 10, 2017

Google is expected to start fighting back against Brussels this week when the company lodges an appeal against its record monopoly abuse fine.

The internet giant is expected to file the response to the European Commission’s €2.4 billion (US$2.7 billion) penalty on Monday, September 11, the deadline for submitting an appeal.

Google, which is facing further multi-billion euro fines in the coming months over its Android software and online advertising network, has been weighing up a challenge since it was fined in June and the company’s hand was strengthened last week when Intel won an appeal over its own €1.1 billion (US$1.3 billion) fine for breaking competition law.

Google’s appeal will extend the seven-year tussle between the company and the EU over allegations it exploited the dominance of its search engine to promote its online shopping service at the expense of small price -comparison websites.

The €2.4 billion (US$2.7 billion) fine in June was the biggest for breaking competition law in the EU’s history, eclipsing the $1.1 billion (US$1.3 billion) Intel was ordered to pay eight years ago. Swallowing it led Google’s parent company Alphabet to report a 30% fall in quarterly profits in July.

Vestager said that by prominently displaying links to its shopping service in Google results and relegating rival price comparison sites, it had illegally exploited the 90% market share enjoyed by its search engine to gain a leg up in online shopping.

Full Content: The Drum

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