European Union fines Google $1.69 billion for anti-trust breach

Google fined for illegal misuse of its dominant position in the market for the brokering of online search adverts

Alphabets Google was fined $1.7 billion (€1.49 billion) by the European Union (EU) for thwarting advertising rivals. The penalty may be EU Antitrust Chief Margrethe Vestager’s third and final attack on the US technological giant.

With the latest fine, Google has been ordered to pay a total of €8.2 billion in EU antitrust probes that have run for nearly a decade, and taken an aim at Android — the company’s popular software —  and searches related to shopping.

Wednesday’s case focuses on Google’s role as an ad broker for websites, targeting exclusivity agreements for online ads with its AdSense for Search product. 

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