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EU Poised To Fine Google More Than $1 Billion in Antitrust Case (marketwatch.com)
Google is braced for a fine of potentially more than 1bn euro ($1.18 billion) as Brussels prepares to make the first of three antitrust decisions on the search group's practices, the first sanction by a leading competition regulator on the way it operates. From a report: The penalty, expected to be announced in the coming weeks, could exceed the record 1.1 billion euro bill slapped on Intel, in 2009 for anti-competitive behavior in the computer-chip market, the two people told The Times. The European Commission's antitrust body declined to comment to MarketWatch on the FT report, but referred to the latest steps taken in the case against Google. In July last year, the commission reiterated its conclusion that the search giant had "abused its dominant position by systematically favoring its comparison shopping service in its search result pages." Google and its parent company Alphabet were then given 10 weeks to respond to the findings. Reuters reported last month that Google had attempted to settle the dispute with the EU three times in the last six years, but the sides had failed to reach a compromise.
I have problems with Google, but .... fining them for favoring its own shopping service?
Usually the argument is that if you are legally considered a monopoly (which Google probably is under EU law) then it is illegal for you to use your monopoly position in that area to promote or favor your other products or business areas. It's essentially the same thing that Microsoft ran afoul of with IE that led to requirements by the EU that Windows users would be able to select which browser they wanted to use when installing Windows. Whether or not you agree with that law, it is still the law that companies are required to abide by.