EU fines Google €1.49bn

The European Commission has fined Google 1.49 billion Euros (1.7 billion dollars) for breaching EU competition rules by abusing its dominant position with its AdSense third-party search advertising service, the bloc announced on Wednesday.

“Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure,’’ EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.

Vestager pointed to anti-competitive contractual restrictions that Google imposed on third-party websites.

“This is illegal under EU antitrust rules,” Vestager noted, adding that the misconduct lasted more than a decade and denied other companies the chance to compete on their own merits.

The decision relates to search functions embedded on websites such as newspaper platforms, blogs or online travel aggregators.

When users search such websites, they find search results as well as adverts appearing alongside.

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