The European Commission fined Google 2.95 billion euros for violating antitrust rules in the field of advertising technology. The decision was published on the department’s website.
Google was accused of distorting competition in the advertising technology market. According to the results of the European Commission’s investigation, the company gave preference to its own services in online advertising, which harmed competitors. The EU said that since at least 2014 and until today, Google abused “its dominant position in violation of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union”.
The European Commission imposed a fine of 2.95 billion euros and ordered Google to “stop such practices” and eliminate conflicts of interest in the supply of advertising technology. The company must inform within 60 days what steps it plans to take to implement this decision.
US President Donald Trump called this decision unfair and threatened the EU with a trade investigation:
“This is very unfair and the American taxpayers will not tolerate it! As I have said before, my administration will not allow these discriminatory actions to go unpunished.”
He emphasized that the United States cannot allow this to “happen to brilliant and unprecedented American ingenuity.”
“If that happens, I will be forced to initiate a Section 301 proceeding to reverse the unfair penalties imposed on these tax-paying American companies,” Donald Trump emphasized.
