Google faces a “record” antitrust fine of around 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) from the European Commission in the coming weeks, according to British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph.
Google has drawn outrage for favoring its search app on smartphones and tablets that use Android. Google is also under scrutiny over how its algorithms organize Internet search results, to the detriment of certain web price comparison and shopping sites that originate in Europe.
Officials planned to announce the fine as early as next month, but that the bill had not yet been finalized, said The Telegraph, which also said Google will also be banned from continuing to manipulate search results to favor itself and harm rivals.
The Commission would be somewhat lenient on Google if it goes through with the $3.4 billion fine since it can fine firms up to 10 percent of their annual sales, which in Google’s case would be a maximum possible sanction of more than 6 billion euros. The biggest antitrust fine to date was a 1.1 billion-euro fine imposed on chip-maker Intel back in 2009.
