The European Union on Friday fined Google $3.5 billion for breaching competition rules by favoring its own digital advertising services.
This marks the tech giant’s fourth major antitrust penalty in the bloc The European Commission also ordered Google to end its “self-preferencing practices” and address conflicts of interest.
Google responded by calling the decision “wrong” and announced it would appeal the penalty, describing it as an “unjustified fine”.
Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s global head of regulatory affairs, stated the decision would hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to generate revenue.
The decision comes more than two years after Brussels first announced charges against the company.
The European Commission accused Google of creating “conflicts of interest” across the advertising technology supply chain.
