19 July 2018
EU Fines Google $5.1B for Abuse of Power
Google and the European Union are certainly not on friendly terms right now, and haven't been for quite some time. That's because Google's business practices are being called into question and the search giant isn't winning any arguments. The latest focus of the EU is Android, and the result is a huge fine and demand for change.
In June last year, the EU fined Google $2.7 billion for illegally steering users toward its comparison shopping website. This week, another fine of $5.1 billion was doled out because Google was found to be abusing its power in the smartphone market.
As The New York Times reports, the record fine is a response to the deals Google strikes with handset manufacturers who opt to use the Android operating system. Google requires that these third-party handsets use Google's search bar and default to the Chrome browser in return for access to the latest versions of Android. Financial incentives were also being offered to both handset makers and wireless carriers in return.
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