Although the judgement has not yet been made, a report states that Google could end up facing a monumental fine in Europe over their dominance with Search, reaching an amount that is potentially upwards of €3 Billion, which would amount to over $3.3 Billion in USD. While that cost would be the most expensive fine ever handed out by the EU to date, it’s only half of the maximum amount that could be imposed which is around €6.6 Billion or about one-tenth of Google’s total net worth. While no official announcements have been made as of yet in regards to the fine, the decision is expected to be made public this Summer and could be announced sometime next month.
With a fine close to being handed out the ongoing seven-year investigation would finally be coming to an end. The case stems from complaints that Google was abusing its power with Search to dominate results for shopping within its Search website rankings. In late August of last year, Google had stated that the EU’s charges against them for antitrust were “unfounded,” denying any wrongful acts in regards to the accusations. Whether or not Google ends up having to pay this fine or not is still unclear along with the unknown amount.
Whether or not they pay the fine will not be the end of things with the EU, though. In addition to this particular case with Google’s Shopping results, the EU has officially charged Google with another antitrust claim, this time revolving around Android. More specifically, that Google is abusing its power with the Android operating system to force manufacturers to use its products such as Search, Chrome, Gmail, and others on their devices if they want to be able to install the Play Store app. In addition to these two sets of charges, it’s also possible that Google could end up with charges in other parts of Search results, as competition commissioner Margarethe Vestager hinted at potential charges being brought forward over maps and travel information as well. Google would also be prohibited from manipulating search results so it could have its own services rank higher in Search over that of competing services.