EU fines Google at about 3 billion euros

The European Commission has imposed on Friday a 2.95 billion-euro fine on the American company, Google, for violating competition rules favouring its digital advertising services.

The European Commission also ordered the American technology giant to stop “the favors of self” and take measures to avoid “interest conflicts” along the supply chain in advertising technology.

This is the fourth time the EC has fined Google. The European Union executive branch's decision is expected to anger American President Donald Trump, whose administration has attacked the European Union for regulations imposed on major technology companies.

The European Commission said his investigation revealed that Google “abused its powers” favouring its online advertising technology services at the expense of competitors, advertisers and publishers.

The company has 60 days to submit proposals for resolving the issue.

If it does not present an applicable plan, the Commission will not hesitate to impose a suitable solution”, Teresa Ribera, executive deputy chairman of the European Commission overseeing competition issues, said in an online statement.

“at this stage, it seems that the only way for Google to actually eliminate the conflict of interest is through a structural solution, such as selling part of its business Adtech”, Ribera added.

However, the European Commission said it wants to first “listen and assess the company's” proposal.

Google called the decision wrong “” and vowed to complain about it.

While the EU fine is pretty big, for Google it's just a small figure, as the American company earned $22 billion in revenue in the second quarter of this year.