Google faces EU fine next year for favouring own services, sources say

[BRUSSELS] Alphabet’s Google is expected to be fined by EU antitrust regulators next year for not doing enough to comply with EU rules against favouring its own services and products in search results, people familiar with the matter said.

A penalty against Google will likely rile the United States, which has criticised a slew of landmark EU laws as taking aim at US tech companies despite EU denials to the contrary.

The world’s most popular internet search engine was charged by the European Commission in March with favouring its own services such as Google Shopping, Google Hotels and Google Flights over competitors.

The case pits Google against vertical search engines, which are specialised search engines with links to a specific sector, and hotels, airlines, restaurants and transport services.

The two latter groups also compete for more prominent spots in Google‘s search results, resulting in conflicting demands on Google.

Since the Commission’s March charges, Google has offered a series of tweaks to its search results, with the last proposal in October, but this still falls short of complying with the Digital Markets Act, which makes it illegal for Big Tech to promote its services and products, the people said.

The Commission, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, and Google declined to comment.

A Google spokesperson has previously said that any further changes to Search would prioritise the commercial interests of a small set of intermediaries over European businesses who want to sell directly to their customers.

Google can still make changes to comply with the DMA to stave off a fine, the people said.

DMA violations can lead to fines as much as 10 per cent of a company’s global annual turnover. The self-preference case is separate from an investigation into its app store Google Play, where the company similarly risks a fine next year, sources have told Reuters. REUTERS