The European Union slapped Google with a record fine of £2.42 billion ($2.7 billion) for unfairly steering the search engine’s users to its own shopping platform.
The anti-trust fine is the result of a seven-year investigation which found that Google “abused its dominant position by systematically favoring” its own shopping service.
“What Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules. It denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate,” said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in a press statement
“Google denied European consumers a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation,” added the EU competition commissioner.
The claims have been denied by Google.
As a result of the move, Google will be pushed to alter the way in which its search algorithm ranks websites.
The fine represents 3 percent of Google's turnover in 2016. The biggest sanction prior to that was U.S. chipmaker Intel's 1.06 billion euro fine in 2009.
If Google does not change its conduct, it will be slapped with daily penalties of up to five percent of its average daily turnover.
“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,” Google said in a written statement.
