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Google Slapped With $2.7 Billion By EU For Skewing Searches (bloomberg.com)
Google suffered a major regulatory blow on Tuesday after European antitrust officials fined the search giant 2.4 billion euros, or $2.7 billion, for unfairly favoring some of its own search services over those of rivals. The European Commission concluded that the search giant abused its near-monopoly in online search to "give illegal advantage" to its own Shopping service. Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition commissioner, said Google "denied other companies the chance to compete" and left consumers without "genuine choice." The hefty fine marks the latest chapter in a lengthy standoff between Europe and Google, which also faces two separate charges under the region's competition rules related to Android, its popular mobile software, and to some of its advertising products. From a report: Google has 90 days to "stop its illegal conduct" and give equal treatment to rival price-comparison services, according to a binding order from the European Commission on Tuesday. It's up to Google to choose how it does this and it must tell the EU within 60 days of its plans. Failure to comply brings a risk of fines of up to 5 percent of its daily revenue. [...] "I expect the Commission now to swiftly conclude the other two ongoing investigations against Google," Markus Ferber, a member of the European Parliament from Germany. "Unfortunately, the Google case also illustrates that competition cases tend to drag on for far too long before they are eventually resolved. In a fast-moving digital economy this means often enough that market abuse actually pays off and the abuser succeeds in eliminating the competition." Google has been pushing its own comparison shopping service since 2008, systematically giving it prominent placement when people search for an item, the EU said. Rival comparison sites usually only appear on page four of search results, effectively denying them a massive audience as the first page attracts 95 percent of all clicks. In a blog post, Google said the EU has "underestimated" the value Google's services brings to the table. "We believe the European Commission's online shopping decision underestimates the value of those kinds of fast and easy connections. While some comparison shopping sites naturally want Google to show them more prominently, our data show that people usually prefer links that take them directly to the products they want, not to websites where they have to repeat their searches. We think our current shopping results are useful and are a much-improved version of the text-only ads we showed a decade ago. Showing ads that include pictures, ratings, and prices benefits us, our advertisers, and most of all, our users. And we show them only when your feedback tells us they are relevant. Thousands of European merchants use these ads to compete with larger companies like Amazon and eBay. [...] Given the evidence, we respectfully disagree with the conclusions announced today. We will review the Commission's decision in detail as we consider an appeal, and we look forward to continuing to make our case," wrote Kent Walker, SVP and General Counsel at Google.
not a monopoly
EU always attacks US companies
muh free market
I'm not sure how this one works. Google can find information, in this case about products. Searching for a product would normally just bring up Amazon, and skip the price comparison altogether. Is Google just not allowed to supply this service?
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If you break the law, you have to face the consequences. Thankfully the legal system here does appear to much more fair than across the pond, and those that unlawfully abuse their power in the market will get slapped down.
This judgement makes me happy.
(as an aside, it does also bring revenue in from an entity that appears to abuse the Dutch Sandwich tax process..)
- This sig deliberately left blank. Nothing to see, move along.
Somebody has to pay for that free college and free abortion pills. Google should just pay. And then in the future after paying all its taxes, just cut an additional check for a certain percentage of its profits to the government.
This fine is moronic on so many levels I'm just cringing in disbelief:
The Commission, sadly (yes, I'm *strongly* pro EU!) is EU's corporate-listening organ. Commissioners mainly talk to lobbyists.
Now EU is desperately in need of some credibility. My fear is that they are just performing this theater for us, the populace, to enjoy to a beverage (of course, Coca Cola) and some junk food (Neslé or Mars).
Remember, the fine isn't paid yet, and it might take looong, possibly forever.
Remember (it was the US, but lobbies work similarly) the Microsoft case?
Sceptic. Monopolies are treated differently nowadays than they were in Standard Oil and Ma Bell times. Today they're still illegal but they do get away with it.
I'd be glad to be surprised, though.
They can't create anything, so they punish those who do. Sad to see the self-appointed "civilization-bringing continent" (as they declare in their ludicrous "constitution") stoop so low. They must be desperate.
to do with this. They really upset a lot of people when they made the decision to kill a useful product spring of 2007. After that destruction of that product, several sites that had great prices went out of business since customers could no longer find them. Google did this to unfairly kill competition.
... in a way the EU didn't like. The EU is fine with bias; they just want it to be bias in their favour.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
Google Slapped With $2.7 Billion By EU For Skewing Searches
Wow, I'd love to be slapped with that money.
Wait, did you leave off a word?
WTF is equal treatment? Someone grew a profitable business and got a shitload of money, which allows him to pay for the top tier hookers. Shall I sue him for equal treatment because the only hookers I could afford are ugly and fat? Why?
Does anyone read this crap before it is posted?
Google "denied other companies the chance to compete" and left consumers without "genuine choice."
We should start right there. Who forces anyone to use Google in the first place?
Google has been bribing Firefox developers to cripple the browser by getting rid of XUL extensions and dumbing down the UI forcing users to use dodgy forks like Pale Moon. It would be great if Firefox could be freed from Google Influence so its not a chrome clone any more.
Once upon a time a European country making a fuss about anything was yawn worthy for a large, multinational corporation.
Here's a $2.7 billion fine - that time of regulatory commissions having no teeth is over.
I know I know...when the UK leaves the EU it can have it's fat politicians bribed for peanuts in comparison and bent over by such a large company also because it will be desperate for tax revenue...but for now let's enjoy the regulatory muscle provided by "unelected officials".
A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
I live in Finland which is part of EU. I haven't even heard about this Google Shopping before. Is this feature shown only in some countries?
I tried disabling ad blocker and still couldn't get anything like that to appear. I even googled for "Google Shopping" and while the main page of it loads, it doesn't show any products when I try to click some of the categories or when I try to search products.
All Google really needs to do is to wait it out. As soon as the UK and Germany finish their respective departures from the EU, the remaining countries will either follow suit or slip into bankruptcy and the rest of the world will cease recognizing it as any sort of official body of legitimate government .
Engine they Choose to Use, If they don't Like the Results all they have to do is change the place they are searching from.
This seems to me to be the EU is using this to Supplement there Finances since I am sure they NEVER have enough $$$$$ Coming in.
I got an Idea Maybe the EU should just make it a Law that you can not use Google for Searches that way they can make there People
Criminals for using there Preference for Searches.
What about Apple with App Store? They don't give competitors a chance to have their own stores on iOS. EU, wake up!
This is still the old grudge after they could not manage to compete with Google with their bullshit idea of "Quaero" which was pushed by French government and failed, because Google is simply too successful in their business.
You need to be blind not to see that they punish Google, Microsoft and Apple for getting special deals or advantages for the EU economy. They don't want to harm them too much. They want a money source. If they would like to harm them, they would go after Microsoft's and Apple's bundling of software and hardware (aka OEM) and Google's personal data transparency.
Remember the browser war with Microsoft? If the EU were consequent, they would force Microsoft to advertise Open/Libre and other Office suites with every offer and sale they make. Sound stupid? Yes, this is all is stupid!
what a surprise?
Jews believe this about others they call goyim/gentiles: Jews = biggest racists of all (for which they "jew guilt" you for no less! They're hypocrites known as thieves all thru history or were Argentines in the 1940 under Perrone, Spanish inquistion, France (1306), Egypt (despoiled/robbed by jews), Arabs (pre & post 1948), England (1330 Edward longshanks), Romans under titus, Russia pogroms and Germany who got rid of them from their nations nazi german's too? No:
1. Sanhedrin 59a: "Murdering Goyim is like killing a wild animal."
2. Abodah Zara 26b: "Even the best of the Gentiles should be killed."
3. Sanhedrin 59a: "A goy (Gentile) who pries into The Law (Talmud) is guilty of death."
4. Yebhamoth 11b: "Sexual intercourse with a little girl is permitted if she is three years of age."
5. Schabouth Hag. 6d: "Jews may swear falsely by use of subterfuge wording."
6. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Do not save Goyim in danger of death."
7. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Show no mercy to the Goyim."
8. Choschen Hamm 388, 15: "If it can be proven that someone has given the money of Israelites to the Goyim, a way must be found after prudent consideration to wipe him off the face of the earth."
9. Choschen Hamm 266,1: "A Jew may keep anything he finds which belongs to the Akum (Gentile). For he who returns lost property (to Gentiles) sins against the Law by increasing the power of the transgressors of the Law. It is praiseworthy, however, to return lost property if it is done to honor the name of God, namely, if by so doing, Christians will praise the Jews and look upon them as honorable people."
10. Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 17: "A Jew should and must make a false oath when the Goyim asks if our books contain anything against them."
11. Baba Necia 114, 6: "The Jews are human beings, but the nations of the world are not human beings but beasts."
12. Simeon Haddarsen, fol. 56-D: "When the Messiah comes every Jew will have 2800 slaves."
13. Nidrasch Talpioth, p. 225-L: "Jehovah created the non-Jew in human form so that the Jew would not have to be served by beasts. The non-Jew is consequently an animal in human form, and condemned to serve the Jew day and night."
14. Aboda Sarah 37a: "A Gentile girl who is three years old can be violated."
15. Gad. Shas. 2:2: "A Jew may violate but not marry a non-Jewish girl."
16. Tosefta. Aboda Zara B, 5: "If a goy kills a goy or a Jew, he is responsible; but if a Jew kills a goy, he is NOT responsible."
17. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 388: "It is permitted to kill a Jewish denunciator everywhere. It is permitted to kill him even before he denounces."
18. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 348: "All property of other nations belongs to the Jewish nation, which, consequently, is entitled to seize upon it without any scruples."
19. Tosefta, Abda Zara VIII, 5: "How to interpret the word 'robbery.' A goy is forbidden to steal, rob, or take women slaves, etc., from a goy or from a Jew. But a Jew is NOT forbidden to do all this to a goy."
20. Seph. Jp., 92, 1: "God has given the Jews power over the possessions and blood of all nations."
21. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 156: "When a Jew has a Gentile in his clutches, another Jew may go to the same Gentile, lend him money and in turn deceive him, so that the Gentile shall be ruined. For the property of a Gentile, according to our law, belongs to no one, and the first Jew that passes has full right to seize it."
22. Schulchan Aruch, Johre Deah, 122: "A Jew is forbidden to drink from a glass of wine which a Gentile has touched, because the touch has made the wine unclean."
23. Nedarim 23b: "He who desires that none of his vows made during the year be valid, let him stand at the beginning of the year and declare, 'Every vow which I may make in the future shall be null'. His vows are then invalid."
Really nice people guess all nations are nazis (egypt "despoiling" robbing it, Romans under titus, russian pogro
We control everything.
Same rules, same commission, equally if not more ridiculous sanctions. Only now do we act confused. Maybe this is why you should have principles and not act like a bunch of tribal fanbois.
They broke the law of being a rich US company with a presence in the EU and the EU wanting money.
Its gotten to the point where the written laws no longer matter. No one can definitely cite what was broken, but they were given "talking points" that seem reasonable to them and that's all they need, not truth.
They admit if you use their ad-service you will get a nice relevant link with picture and review and one click to get to the relevant page
And this is done for the benefit of the consumer.
But this also means for every online retailer: USE OUR AD SERVICE!!! or become irrelevant by not showing up in search results.
IMO they confessed their dominant search market abuse in their blog, but we do it in the interest of the consumer (while screwing over all online retailers)
Pull out and send the EU back to the stone age where they belong (and want to go).
This is the 3rd consecutive day that Microcenter's website has been down.
The only message is a maintenance page stating, "we're updating our site".
It is currently not possible to place orders or check status on existing orders.
-
Anybody know what happened?
First of all this fine is only ~1% of the EU budget so it's peanuts
Second this fine is directly related to the revenue of the company so the company will deter from doing the anti-competitive behavior again.
Ask yourself: If I give you a 1$ speeding ticket from driving to fast in my street, will it stop you from speeding there the next time?
Jews believe this about others they call goyim/gentiles: Jews = biggest racists of all (for which they "jew guilt" you for no less! They're hypocrites known as thieves all thru history or were Argentines in the 1940 under Perrone, Spanish inquistion, France (1306), Egypt (despoiled/robbed by jews), Arabs (pre & post 1948), England (1330 Edward longshanks), Romans under titus, Russia pogroms and Germany who got rid of them from their nations nazi german's too? No. Should anyone doubt any of this see Jacob Javits' crony Rosenthal spill the beans on it https://justice4poland.com/2016/12/12/the-hidden-tyranny-shocking-1976-interview-with-zionist-harold-wallace-rosenthal/ where he called all Christianity fools for helping Israel and the biggest scam of all time per their beliefs below from their Talmud. This is the province of the synagogue of Satan (Khazar/Pharisees whom Jesus Christ himself kicked to the curb out of the temple):
1. Sanhedrin 59a: "Murdering Goyim is like killing a wild animal."
2. Abodah Zara 26b: "Even the best of the Gentiles should be killed."
3. Sanhedrin 59a: "A goy (Gentile) who pries into The Law (Talmud) is guilty of death."
4. Yebhamoth 11b: "Sexual intercourse with a little girl is permitted if she is three years of age."
5. Schabouth Hag. 6d: "Jews may swear falsely by use of subterfuge wording."
6. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Do not save Goyim in danger of death."
7. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Show no mercy to the Goyim."
8. Choschen Hamm 388, 15: "If it can be proven that someone has given the money of Israelites to the Goyim, a way must be found after prudent consideration to wipe him off the face of the earth."
9. Choschen Hamm 266,1: "A Jew may keep anything he finds which belongs to the Akum (Gentile). For he who returns lost property (to Gentiles) sins against the Law by increasing the power of the transgressors of the Law. It is praiseworthy, however, to return lost property if it is done to honor the name of God, namely, if by so doing, Christians will praise the Jews and look upon them as honorable people."
10. Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 17: "A Jew should and must make a false oath when the Goyim asks if our books contain anything against them."
11. Baba Necia 114, 6: "The Jews are human beings, but the nations of the world are not human beings but beasts."
12. Simeon Haddarsen, fol. 56-D: "When the Messiah comes every Jew will have 2800 slaves."
13. Nidrasch Talpioth, p. 225-L: "Jehovah created the non-Jew in human form so that the Jew would not have to be served by beasts. The non-Jew is consequently an animal in human form, and condemned to serve the Jew day and night."
14. Aboda Sarah 37a: "A Gentile girl who is three years old can be violated."
15. Gad. Shas. 2:2: "A Jew may violate but not marry a non-Jewish girl."
16. Tosefta. Aboda Zara B, 5: "If a goy kills a goy or a Jew, he is responsible; but if a Jew kills a goy, he is NOT responsible."
17. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 388: "It is permitted to kill a Jewish denunciator everywhere. It is permitted to kill him even before he denounces."
18. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 348: "All property of other nations belongs to the Jewish nation, which, consequently, is entitled to seize upon it without any scruples."
19. Tosefta, Abda Zara VIII, 5: "How to interpret the word 'robbery.' A goy is forbidden to steal, rob, or take women slaves, etc., from a goy or from a Jew. But a Jew is NOT forbidden to do all this to a goy."
20. Seph. Jp., 92, 1: "God has given the Jews power over the possessions and blood of all nations."
21. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 156: "When a Jew has a Gentile in his clutches, another Jew may go to the same Gentile, lend him money and in turn deceive him, so that the Gentile shall be ruined. For the property of a Gentile, according to ou
Probably not the best way to say "alter"..
And yet Google skews political search results in the US and no one bats an eye. Do the same searches with google, yahoo, and bing and you will see a difference. Peoples heads are exploding with a hint of election interference from Russia, but don't think twice when google or most of the media skews their output un-evenly which is a form of influence.
Google USERS choose to use Google.
Get it? The PEOPLE of the world have spoken, and they prefer Google.
Get over yourselves you fucking ignoramouses in the EU government, you're fucking clueless.
I'd turn off Google for the entire EU for a month, see how they like it.
We know they do this with search; now if they can get fined for doing it to android.
Jews believe this about others they call goyim/gentiles: Jews = biggest racists of all (for which they "jew guilt" you for no less! They're hypocrites known as thieves all thru history or were Argentines in the 1940 under Perrone, Spanish inquistion, France (1306), Egypt (despoiled/robbed by jews), Arabs (pre & post 1948), England (1330 Edward longshanks), Romans under titus, Russia pogroms and Germany who got rid of them from their nations nazi german's too? No. Should anyone doubt any of this see Jacob Javits' crony Rosenthal spill the beans on it https://justice4poland.com/2016/12/12/the-hidden-tyranny-shocking-1976-interview-with-zionist-harold-wallace-rosenthal/ where he called all Christianity fools for helping Israel and the biggest scam of all time per their beliefs below from their Talmud. This is the province of the synagogue of Satan (Khazar/Pharisees whom Jesus Christ himself kicked to the curb out of the temple):
1. Sanhedrin 59a: "Murdering Goyim is like killing a wild animal."
2. Abodah Zara 26b: "Even the best of the Gentiles should be killed."
3. Sanhedrin 59a: "A goy (Gentile) who pries into The Law (Talmud) is guilty of death."
4. Yebhamoth 11b: "Sexual intercourse with a little girl is permitted if she is three years of age."
5. Schabouth Hag. 6d: "Jews may swear falsely by use of subterfuge wording."
6. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Do not save Goyim in danger of death."
7. Hilkkoth Akum X1: "Show no mercy to the Goyim."
8. Choschen Hamm 388, 15: "If it can be proven that someone has given the money of Israelites to the Goyim, a way must be found after prudent consideration to wipe him off the face of the earth."
9. Choschen Hamm 266,1: "A Jew may keep anything he finds which belongs to the Akum (Gentile). For he who returns lost property (to Gentiles) sins against the Law by increasing the power of the transgressors of the Law. It is praiseworthy, however, to return lost property if it is done to honor the name of God, namely, if by so doing, Christians will praise the Jews and look upon them as honorable people."
10. Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 17: "A Jew should and must make a false oath when the Goyim asks if our books contain anything against them."
11. Baba Necia 114, 6: "The Jews are human beings, but the nations of the world are not human beings but beasts."
12. Simeon Haddarsen, fol. 56-D: "When the Messiah comes every Jew will have 2800 slaves."
13. Nidrasch Talpioth, p. 225-L: "Jehovah created the non-Jew in human form so that the Jew would not have to be served by beasts. The non-Jew is consequently an animal in human form, and condemned to serve the Jew day and night."
14. Aboda Sarah 37a: "A Gentile girl who is three years old can be violated."
15. Gad. Shas. 2:2: "A Jew may violate but not marry a non-Jewish girl."
16. Tosefta. Aboda Zara B, 5: "If a goy kills a goy or a Jew, he is responsible; but if a Jew kills a goy, he is NOT responsible."
17. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 388: "It is permitted to kill a Jewish denunciator everywhere. It is permitted to kill him even before he denounces."
18. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 348: "All property of other nations belongs to the Jewish nation, which, consequently, is entitled to seize upon it without any scruples."
19. Tosefta, Abda Zara VIII, 5: "How to interpret the word 'robbery.' A goy is forbidden to steal, rob, or take women slaves, etc., from a goy or from a Jew. But a Jew is NOT forbidden to do all this to a goy."
20. Seph. Jp., 92, 1: "God has given the Jews power over the possessions and blood of all nations."
21. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 156: "When a Jew has a Gentile in his clutches, another Jew may go to the same Gentile, lend him money and in turn deceive him, so that the Gentile shall be ruined. For the property of a Gentile, according to ou
Really shouldn't be surprised that Google a company built on ad revenue and has total control of searches on the web. Would used that power to advance their own. This is why its scary to place so much power into one companies control. Really too bad Google has such a majority of control over web search. But users get into a habit and its hard to retrain to use something else. I've though Google search was tainted for a long time, but I don't find myself adopting DuckDuckGo or Bing or even Yahoo. Everybody Google's which is part of the problem.
hurts as much as being Slapped With $2.7 Billion does?
Slashdot poster: It is perfectly reasonably for any Euro or Asian country to have economic protectionism to protect their companies and the jobs of their citizens.
Slashdot Community: Preach to me sister! Mod that dude up to the sky!!!!!!!!!!!
Trump: It is stupid for America to continually enter one sided trade deals where the other country uses protectionism, and our companies get savaged. We need to start thinking of America first and use protections when they do.
Slashdot Community: Trump and ALL his ideas are evil, even if it matches conventional wisdom on these forums. Mod anyone down who agrees with him, and kill their pets too!!!!!!
"Liberalism is a very noble idea, currently controlled by some very bad people. Be sure you do not get the two confused.
I don't understand how a valuable service that's paid for by advertising isn't allowed to advertise. Yellow Pages didn't need to be distributed with WantAds - why would Google need to promote their competitors?
I understood the antitrust litigation against Microsoft - they were forcing OEMs to exclude competitors' browsers, among other things. And a new OS gaining market share has high barriers to entry, but search engines just don't - make it available and the whole world gets immediate access, and there are a lot of cloud vendors that make it easy to scale up as the money comes in. ... and it's easy for people to switch.
Without high barriers to entry, Google doesn't have a monopoly, so anyone with a better offering could take over at any time. I think the EU should sue Google's competition for sucking.
Fuck Google and its never ending quest to squeeze money out of every possible area whether it makes sense or not.
Fuck Google and its persistent habit of killing off products people found useful.
Fuck Google.
The law of estoppel. By not taking action FIVE years ago, I would argue it is a bit late to cry wolf.
Instead Google is taking the Uber approach - do it anyway, and then negotiate to make past claimed illegalities, legal.
Here is how the google shopping idea works.
Say you are in the mood to buy a new chair. You go and google 'chair price' or something like that. Several options show up. As it turns out, google favors companies that sell chairs and pay for google advertising. They may not be the most famous company, the best reviewed company, etc. but they will get top billing.
When confronted with a long list, human nature is such that you choose something near the top. We are all lazy and who wants to read that much unnecessary stuff. This makes primacy pretty powerful in a search list. That said, technically google will display non-advertising vendors too, just further down the page or on the dreaded page two.
Keep in mind google also does this for most things, including news services or political discussions that it favors, to shape public opinion. How you are mass manipulated without your awareness is a deep and profound discussion, but that should be saved for another day. Walk before you run grasshopper.
Getting back to the point, google also shapes your searches by 'reading' your gmail and creating profiles about stuff that you have searched. Sadly, by this point, google knows more about you than many of your friends. It will place advertisements on web pages related to what it knows about you. It will also order your search hits based upon what it knows about you.
Keep in mind, nothing is for free. Many people enjoy their "free" browser, "free" email, and "free" search engine without giving a moments thought about how google gives away everything but yet still pays all those California engineers six figure salaries. A wise man once said to me:
"If there is no price on something, then you are the product."
Hope this helps some.
"Liberalism is a very noble idea, currently controlled by some very bad people. Be sure you do not get the two confused.
The least expensive option for them is to keep this in court for the next 30 years, and I expect that's just what they'll do.
Awesome job, now do Microcrap with their abusive roll out of W10 and the data gathering included that cannot be turned off!!!
One might almost infer that the EU is anti business, or ...anti non-EU business, or...(if one really has the tinfoil hat) anti-US-business.
Trump's a buffoon for wanting to raise protectionist barriers, but the EU deep-pocket-fining US businesses mainly for being successful (particularly in fields where EU businesses are struggling or don't exist) is *just* as stupid.
Hey, I guess it's one way to raise the funds to bail out the monetary union, once the German taxpayers ever get tired of footing the bill for the whole damned thing, right?
Hint: turns out you can't simply bolt the Drachma (or the Lira, or the Peseta) to the Deutsche Mark and get ... a Deutsche Mark. Funny, that.
-Styopa
Here's EU commissioner Vestagers comments about the process.
"Process
Since I took office in November 2014, I have given high priority to this case. Because various attempts to find a negotiated solution with Google had failed, I chose to take the case forward in a different way. My services first updated the information in the files. In April 2015 we then sent our Statement of Objections to Google, followed by a supplementary one in July 2016.
Before reaching our conclusions we have analysed huge quantities of data. This includes 5.2 Terabytes of actual search results from Google. That's the equivalent of 1.7 billion search queries, or about 460 million copies of my statement here today. It would take me more than 17,000 years to read them out.
Our decisions have to be based on firm evidence. We have to prove our points, even if they seem intuitive. Let's take, for example, the impact of prominent placement in Google's search results on traffic. First, we analysed studies on user click behaviour, which indicated that there is a link. But we did not stop there. We also accounted for the possibility that there may be good reasons why users click on the top result more often – namely, because they are more relevant. So, we simulated what happens if you swap the ranking of generic search results. This confirmed that the same result receives significantly more traffic, when ranked higher up.
Our investigations never take place in isolation. We had many exchanges with Google to hear its views. And we had many exchanges with its customers and competitors. Some of them, including US companies, were actively involved as complainants or interested third parties. And hundreds of companies took the time to reply to our questionnaires and to provide the Commission with essential information.
So, we took this decision after a thorough investigation that respected Google's rights of defence. We will publish the decision for all to see, as soon as we agree with Google and third parties on any confidential business secrets that need to be removed."
(source:http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-17-1806_en.htm)
Google had every opportunity to defend themselves. They failed.
Google has deployed its shilling operators in all the discussion sites. This is being fought tooth and nail by people that move around wealth at leisure.
I seem to remember Google cheerleading when the EU bureaucrats went after MS for similar nonsense. So this is great, hilarious in fact. Also Trump should direct the DOJ to start looking at various EU companies for fake antitrust violations.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
"Slapped with $2.7 billion"? Is that like smacking someone with a rolled-up newspaper, but using rolled up $100 bills instead?
What happens if Google does not pay? Will the EU gendarmerie storm their offices in Europe and order "round up the Jews"? That would be very European of them.
The EC loves attacking US companies because xenophobia and anti-Americanism sell and keep people in office. Were it a German or French firm doing the same thing, nothing would be done about it.
The more I read their decision, the more I'm convinced this is completely about "sponsored results." At least after a few test searches, a couple things are clear to me:
This statement in the decision is true..
..and this statement in the decision is false..
..unless it's all about the sponsored results (i.e. the results that most users unconsciously skip over; I was doing it before I realized I needed to pay attention to it, in order to understand the EU decision).
It's that simple, right? EU wants Google to include unpaid ads by competitors in their sponsored results? (And for those ads to be as broadly targeted as Google's own ads, to the point of being comically irrelevant most of the time.)
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Google is a search engine.
They provided search engine results.
They put their own search engine for shopping results ahead of random other shopping results.
This is not anti-competitive, this is not unfair, this is *literally their business model*. They provide search results.
I'm sorry if you're unhappy with WHICH results were provided, but if I were Google I would just fucking pull out of the EU entirely and let them discover exactly how much they were getting out of the deal.
First of all this fine is only ~1% of the EU budget so it's peanuts
Over 1.6% of the budget, but also higher than the average net contribution of all but four member states - one of whom is leaving in a couple of years, leaving the EU with a 15% shortfall in its cashflows.
A couple of fines this size each year will help plug that hole nicely.
Just wondering, which or Article 102 applies to Google?
Instead of a fine, offer the option to shut off their search engine for a week so alternatives could be used. Heck, maybe the Goog should just do it for spite.
RRK
Windows is not a public service. I'm hoping MS tightens some restrictions about allowing random shitty software to run on their OS. Hopefully they will start blocking chrome and firefox soon..
fuck monopolies and bad management
I recognize that US law is not governing in this case, but US antitrust law has an element that is directly on point here. One permissible defense that a monopolist can present in the US is that they possess "skill, foresight, and industry" that directly led to their market share. If that defense describes anyone, it describes Google. Not only that, but what standard are the EU authorities advocating? As an example, suppose you are reading a paper copy of The New York Times. Does anyone really expect the Times to direct someone to the internet, or Sports Illustrated, for baseball coverage? Of course not--they will direct the reader to the Sports section of the Times, even though better options exist. Similarly, Macys will direct a customer to "Jewelry, 8th floor" rather than to Tiffany's, even if the customer would be better served by going to Tiffany's. Google is being held to an impossible standard.
2.7B is but a pittance to them, and more than enough to buy a friendly-enough judge for the appeal to not have to pay anything for the next ten years while they drag out the proceedings. Anything less than increasing fines after the 90 days is a total capitulation.
2.4 billion EUR is getting significant. What will the EU commission do with that money?
Help Greece? (No, just kidding!) Reduce member state contribution to EU budget? Invest in infrastructure? Pay a bonus to members of EU commission?
this is just not right, nobody is forcing using google, there is plenty of other searches, this is their website, their business, and they can what they like with it, if people dont like it, then just dont use it, how hard is that ? and if people dont know how to use other searches, why blaming google for your lak of education ?
Eu is best to creating stupid laws,1st in world to do that, and then they are surprised that non tech company want to seatle R&D here
Welcome to the resurgent socialist movement of Europe where private enterprise, that owes the users who freely come to their products to use it free of charge nothing, are forced to equalise search results for their competition.
It's Google's search engine, they can do whatever the fuck they please with it. Every single search result can return with dick pics if that's what Google wants.
The only people they owe anything to are their paying customers.
I hope Google drops their own comparison shopping service from Europe - and then follows the EU directive by dropping all other services from the search results to give them "equal treatment".
The EU WILL GET the 4 billion for the Paris Climate agreement that the US backed out of one way or the other.
Google has the money, and now EU wants it.
This is the same shit that EU did with M$.
It's about time someone somewhere has the courage to bring Google to justice for tgeir behaviour. Everyone in America is in a haze thinking that their searches are what tgey were looking for when in fact Google has been replacing their searches with other search results that are paid for by tveir adwords customers! Google is evil and must be stopped.
Insider trading is a felony
Casteism