The European Commission has fined Google 1.49 billion euro for blocking rival online search advertisers.
This is the search engine’s third penalty in two years as the company is accused of breaching EU antitrust laws between 2006 and 2016, European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said in Brussels on Wednesday morning.
The tech giant was charged for “illegal practices in search advertising brokering”.
Last year, the EU competition enforcer imposed a record 4.34 billion euro fine on Google for using its popular Android mobile operating system to block rivals.
There was a record 4.34 billion euro (£3.9 billion) fine last year over restrictions on mobile phone manufacturers using Android to drive internet traffic to Google’s own search engine.
In June 2017, it was fined 2.42 billion euro (£2.1 billion) for its comparison shopping service.
In response to last year’s fine, Google said it would begin asking Android users in Europe about their preferred search engine and web browser apps after being accused of abusing its position by EU competition authorities.
