Tech giant fined for third time in a week after being hit with multimillion-dollar penalties in US and France.
The European Union has imposed a penalty of 2.95 billion euros ($3.45bn) on Google for favouring its own advertising services, marking the fourth time the tech giant has been fined in its decade-long fight with the bloc’s competition regulators.
The European Commission accused Google of distorting competition in the 27-nation bloc after investigating a complaint from the European Publishers Council, moving to rein in the tech firm despite threats of retaliation from United States President Donald Trump.
In response to the fine against Google on Friday, Trump criticised the decision and threatened a wider trade probe against the EU.
“We cannot let this happen to brilliant and unprecedented American Ingenuity and, if it does, I will be forced to start a Section 301 proceeding to nullify the unfair penalties being charged to these Taxpaying American Companies,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
