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Google's Record Fine of $2.8 Billion Was a 'Deterrent,' EU Says (bloomberg.com)
The European Union was aiming for a "deterrent effect" on Google and other technology giants when it ordered the Android-maker to pay 2.4 billion euros ($2.8 billion) for breaching antitrust law over how it displays shopping ads. From a report: Regulators weighed "the need to ensure that the fine has a sufficiently deterrent effect not only on Google and Alphabet but also on undertakings of a similar size and with similar resources," the European Commission said in a 215-page document laying out details of its seven-year investigation into the company. The "particularly large" revenue of Google's parent, Alphabet, also determined the size of the fine, the EU said. The penalty, levied in June, was more than double an earlier 1 billion-euro fine on Intel and came with a threat of more daily fines for Google if it didn't comply with an order to offer equal treatment to rival shopping-comparison services. Big numbers for big technology names have been a theme for EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who ordered Apple Inc. to pay back some 13 billion euros in taxes last year.
Now, if Google were a German or French company, would the EU hound them as constantly? Quite doubtful. When in doubt, do some anti-American xenophobia, as it will keep you in power.
Wish the EU would police themselves as much as they drag foreign companies for kangaroo court trials.
I'm glad someone (even if it's the EU, not the US) caught on. Fines that can be paid as a standard part of doing business are an expense, not a deterrent.
I honestly don't know if this fine is significant enough to actually defer Google.
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They have laws and enforce them; unlike the US which only really enforces its rule of law on the little guys. Don't act like this is a shakedown. This is the consequence for violating the rule of law in a non-corrupt place. Say what you will about the content of those laws; but at least, in Europe, the rule of law stands. Wish I could say the same for the US.
Seriously, did you just relate non-corrupt with the European Union? I do agree they have to level a huge fine for a company like Google, but it's really interesting how they just hit all the huge tech companies that have.... MONEY!!
Seriously, did you just relate non-corrupt with the European Union? I do agree they have to level a huge fine for a company like Google, but it's really interesting how they just hit all the huge tech companies that have.... MONEY!!
No, they hit the companies that have offices or customers in Europe.
In general, smaller companies can ill afford to challenge the rules, and follow them. But there are plenty of examples of smaller companies being hit too, when they try to get around the laws.
You might want to take a look at the list of companies that have been the subject of antitrust and data protection fines in the EU. Spoiler: Most of them are neither tech companies, nor based in the US. The US tech companies are the ones that make the news because the fines are typically in proportion to the company size and most people will both have heard of these companies and be impressed by the big number of the fine.
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This is idiotic. If the passenger in my car is suddenly very sick, then speeding to the hospital makes sense as I decide that increasing his chances of survival is more important than the speeding fine. Why should I have to pay a higher fine to rush my passenger to the hospital if I'm rich?
Because the threshold for breaking the law is lower if you're rich and the fines are the same.
Turn it around - why should a poor person be afraid of being stopped because the ticket for him would be devastating, while a rich person doesn't have the same concern, because the ticket would be negligible for him?
It should deter the rich person and the poor person just as much. When the fine is half a paycheck for one person and not even noticed for another, the determent is not the same.
Wealth shouldn't be a factor.
Exactly. Which is why the fines must hit everyone equally hard, not equal amounts, because then wealth is a factor.