Google has just received a notice from the EU for a record fine of about 2.4 billion euros. The underlying reason for the sanction would be the violation of competition rules through conscious manipulation of search results, to promote their services.
The European Union's decision follows a seven-year investigation into US search engine algorithms, which ended with a ruling on "abuse of dominant position" by Google, which would systematically violate antitrust law, favoring their services compared to those of competitors through search results.
Today's fine is the highest in EU history and even exceeds that of 1 billion set for Intel in 2009.
In particular, Google Shopping is charged with the feature that allows you to compare product prices, which is part of the search engine. According to the EU, Google would show users the results of Google Shopping by depriving competitors of a price comparison and thus promoting their products.
Because of its dominant position in Europe, Google should not have been given this advantage.
The company will therefore have to change the way its search algorithm ranks websites to "comply with the principle of equal treatment between their products and their competitors".
Shame on you Google. Shame on you! 🙇 🙇