EU competition commissioner Teresa Ribera describes the huge fine against Google as a balanced decision.
“The best products should succeed because they are better, not because they are owned by the company that runs the search engine,” she says in an explanation of the decision.
“Pure product degradation”
Google says the EU's application of the regulation is a way to "destroy common everyday products."
"To comply with the regulations, we are now forced to remove features in Google Search that our users in Europe love - such as being able to instantly see prices and availability for hotels, flights and restaurants. At the same time, the security protection on Google Play is being weakened," says Kent Walker, head of global affairs at Google, in a written comment to TT.
"It is pure product degradation driven by a small clique of self-interested actors, with European companies and consumers taking the brunt. Regulations should make products better, not worse," he adds.
The bulk of the EU fine - 460 million euros - is justified by the US tech giant's favouring of its own services such as Google Flights and Google Hotels over competing services. The rest of the fine is related to the fact that app developers have been denied certain opportunities outside Google Play, according to AFP.
60-day grace period
According to the decision, Google has 60 days to fix the deficiencies if it wants to avoid further fines.
According to Bloomberg, the EU has previously fined iPhone manufacturer Apple and Facebook owner Meta 500 million and 200 million euros respectively for violating the same regulation.
When Google was fined by the EU last year, President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs against the EU.
The EU has previously fined Google large sums, most recently almost three billion euros last year. And Google's debts to the EU under the decisions amount to over 10 billion euros.
