EU Fines Google 2.95 Billion Euros, Drawing Trump Tariff Threat
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The European Union imposed a massive 2.95 billion euro antitrust fine on Google for favoring its own advertising services.
US President Donald Trump issued a furious rebuke and threatened fresh tariffs against Europe in response to the decision, AFP reported.
Google vowed to appeal the ruling by the European Commission, which accused the American firm of distorting competition within the 27-nation bloc.
EU competition chief Teresa Ribera stated that Google abused its dominant position in adtech, harming publishers, advertisers, and consumers.
This behavior is illegal under EU antitrust rules according to the commission.
Trump lashed out at the decision, which brings Google’s total EU liabilities to nearly 10 billion euros.
The American president has previously threatened to go after Europe for its digital market rules and content policing policies.
Trump called the fine very unfair on his Truth Social network and declared that American taxpayers will not stand for it.
He made these comments just one day after hosting top tech leaders, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, at the White House.
Trump warned that if the fine is confirmed, his administration will launch proceedings to impose tariffs as retaliation.
The commission ordered Google to end its self-preferencing practices and take steps to cease its inherent conflicts of interest.
Ribera gave Google 60 days to inform the commission on how it plans to comply with the ruling.
She stated that the commission will not hesitate to impose an appropriate remedy if Google fails to propose a viable plan.
Ribera suggested that the only effective way for Google to end its conflict of interest might be through structural remedies like selling part of its adtech business.
Google’s global head of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland said the commission’s decision was wrong and unjustified.
She argued that the required changes would hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to make money.
Advertising serves as Google’s financial bedrock, with parent company Alphabet reporting quarterly profits of $28.2 billion largely from ads.
The commission noted that Google both sells advertising on its own platforms and acts as an intermediary for firms wanting to place ads elsewhere.
The European Publishers Council, which had filed the original complaint, said a fine alone was not sufficient punishment.
Director Angela Mills Wade warned that without strong enforcement, Google would simply write this off as a cost of business.
This EU decision follows a similar US federal court ruling against Google over its adtech practices earlier this year.
A trial to decide remedies in the US case opens in Virginia on September 22.
Friday’s announcement marked the third fine against Google in a single week.
A US federal jury ordered Google to pay about $425 million for gathering information from smartphone app users despite privacy settings.
France’s data protection authority fined the search giant 325 million euros the same day for failing to respect internet cookie laws.
The company did achieve a major win when a US judge rejected the government’s demand that Google sell its Chrome web browser.
That landmark antitrust ruling did however impose sweeping data sharing requirements to restore competition.
The commission has hit Google with multiple fines in recent years as the EU’s competition watchdog.
It fined the online giant 4.1 billion euros in 2018 for abusing Android’s market dominance.
The commission also imposed a 2.4 billion euro fine in 2017 for anti-competitive practices in the price comparison market.
