EU regulators fine Google for blocking advertising rivals

EU antitrust regulators handed down a 1.49 billion euro ($1.69 billion) fine to Alphabet unit Google on Wednesday for blocking rival online search advertisers, marking the company’s third penalty in two years.

Last year, the EU competition enforcer imposed a record 4.34 billion euro fine on Google for using its popular Android mobile operating system to block rivals. This followed a 2.42 billion euro fine in 2017 for hindering rivals of shopping comparison websites, reports Reuters.

Meanwhile, another report says, Google did not comment specifically on the 1.49-billion-euro ($1.7 billion) fine.

But the search engine announced to make a number of changes to address EU antitrust regulators’ concerns that it unfairly promoted its shopping service and hindered rivals of its Android smartphone operating system.

“We’ve always agreed that healthy, thriving markets are in everyone’s interest. We’ve already made a wide range of changes to our products to address the Commission’s concerns,” Kent Walker, senior vice-president of global affairs, said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Over the next few months, we’ll be making further updates to give more visibility to rivals in Europe,” he continued.