Google Fined $5 Billion, Given 90 Days to Stop ‘Illegal Practices’

[First77]

EU says Google illegally pushes searches, browser Android

Google received a record 4.3 billion-euro ($5 billion) antitrust fine from the European Union and was ordered to change the way it puts search and web-browser apps onto Android mobile devices.The penalty -- the same amount the Netherlands contributes to the EU budget every year -- is far higher than any other dished out by the U.S., Chinese or other antitrust authorities. More significantly, Google was given until mid-October to stop what the EU called "illegal practices" on contracts with handset manufacturers that push its services in front of users. It faces daily fines of 5 percent of revenue if it doesn’t obey.

Google owner Alphabet Inc. generated about the same amount of money as the penalty every 16 days in 2017, based on the company’s reported annual revenue of $110.9 billion.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles

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[Hydrogen]

I get a feeling the european union is money hungry and searching for ways to "boost revenues". Fining google $5 billion for "anti trust violations" was the best plan they could come up with.

There are far worse violators of anti trust than google who will never be fined. The entire concept of anti trust may have become somewhat obsolete with the advent of global markets. There is an imbalance in the way business is approached. Some nations file anti trust suits against their own local businesses which cripples their own economy. Other nations throw state support behind local business in an effort to grow them larger than rival nations.

The concept of local markets being regulated in terms of anti trust is something which hasn't seriously been pursued for decades. US lawmakers gave up on filing serious anti trust suits against microsoft from as far back as when Bill Gates was acting CEO.

Its only recently with governments becoming more desperate for cash that the "anti trust" issue has become a serious issue. And that is only because states desperately need money and have no other recourse.

[davis196]

What will happen,if Google refuses to pay that fine?Can all EU countries ban the use of all Google services (Gmail,Youtube,Drive,Blogger,Adwords,Adsense,Search,MyBusiness) in their jurisdictions?No,they can`t.This will cause a lot of online businesses to bankrupt.I`m not on Goggle`s side.It`s really hard to stop a global monopoly like them to smash(or buy) the competition.Perhaps the blockchain is a way to stop the tech giants?

[First77]

I get a feeling the european union is money hungry and searching for ways to "boost revenues". Fining google $5 billion for "anti trust violations" was the best plan they could come up with.

Google tracking users & using it for adsense/google ads ??

I was on real estate website magicbricks.com and I searched for "panvel navi mumbai". Next day when I was on other websites, I was getting google ads for "magicbricks panvel properties". The same happened to me after my search on amazon.com for chairs, clothes etc..

[dothebeats]

I don't see how Google is violating any laws or regulations and I can't seem to find any illegal practices apart from them spying on people specially with the ads. Android is Google's creation, and we all know that a lot of services for Android requires Google's services. If not for these services, how would an average consumer find an Android smartphone's worth? Though I agree that there are bloatwares and unnecessary bullshit embedded on a fresh phone but these bloatwares can be disabled by the end-user if they so do wish. Heck, if Google is an unfair competitor, why would they even allow free, useful apps on the Playstore if they just want to shove their apps in the consumers' asses?

This is somewhat a nonsense fine; they should focus more on the spying and data mining part rather than the apps that comes with a new handheld device.

[CanaryInTheMine]

I get a feeling the european union is money hungry and searching for ways to "boost revenues". Fining google $5 billion for "anti trust violations" was the best plan they could come up with.

There are far worse violators of anti trust than google who will never be fined. The entire concept of anti trust may have become somewhat obsolete with the advent of global markets. There is an imbalance in the way business is approached. Some nations file anti trust suits against their own local businesses which cripples their own economy. Other nations throw state support behind local business in an effort to grow them larger than rival nations.

The concept of local markets being regulated in terms of anti trust is something which hasn't seriously been pursued for decades. US lawmakers gave up on filing serious anti trust suits against microsoft from as far back as when Bill Gates was acting CEO.

Its only recently with governments becoming more desperate for cash that the "anti trust" issue has become a serious issue. And that is only because states desperately need money and have no other recourse.

Ofcourse they want money! They keep harping at Google (and others) for not paying "enough" taxes.  So this is just another way to extract those moneys.
Remember MSFT anti-trust with EU?

[First77]

How is bing.com for searches on the internet ??

[newinbtc]

What will happen,if Google refuses to pay that fine?Can all EU countries ban the use of all Google services (Gmail,Youtube,Drive,Blogger,Adwords,Adsense,Search,MyBusiness) in their jurisdictions?No,they can`t.This will cause a lot of online businesses to bankrupt.I`m not on Goggle`s side.It`s really hard to stop a global monopoly like them to smash(or buy) the competition.Perhaps the blockchain is a way to stop the tech giants?

Gogle makes money from advertising only. They will pay Fine. Google Earns 110 Billion Dollar. If he pays 5% only Thats is nothing. But If google file case against This case. Then It is possible Google may get Less Fine against this case. Or They will Charge More Money from Eu people From advertising funds To recover money.


While Creating account on Google. We never read terms and conditions of many page. If any user Read that. They already mentioned that We will use your Search history and Will show ads On Your search history... You can find this option in android google setting. Then Ads settings

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I was on real estate website magicbricks.com and I searched for "panvel navi mumbai". Next day when I was on other websites, I was getting google ads for "magicbricks panvel properties".

Well, yeah, that's what they do and they've been doing it for a very long time now.  Their game, just like Facebook and all the other social media websites, is to get your information so they can sell it to advertisers.  How do you think they manage to achieve those enormous revenues?  Back in 2007, Google looked like a really risky tech investment and there were people who wouldn't have the stock in their portfolios--and those people lost out on a chance to make a fortune.

I don't know if Google's motto is still "don't be evil" but I sure as hell don't trust them, even if they tell me what they're doing, buried pages deep in their preferences page.  That hasn't stopped me from using them, though.

In any case, hopefully they do pay the fine if it's a fair one.  Sometimes big corporations getting hit is good for them, as it forces them to do some much-needed introspection. 

[Panda Trump]

What will happen,if Google refuses to pay that fine?Can all EU countries ban the use of all Google services (Gmail,Youtube,Drive,Blogger,Adwords,Adsense,Search,MyBusiness) in their jurisdictions?No,they can`t.This will cause a lot of online businesses to bankrupt.I`m not on Goggle`s side.It`s really hard to stop a global monopoly like them to smash(or buy) the competition.Perhaps the blockchain is a way to stop the tech giants?

Gogle makes money from advertising only. They will pay Fine. Google Earns 110 Billion Dollar. If he pays 5% only Thats is nothing. But If google file case against This case. Then It is possible Google may get Less Fine against this case. Or They will Charge More Money from Eu people From advertising funds To recover money.


While Creating account on Google. We never read terms and conditions of many page. If any user Read that. They already mentioned that We will use your Search history and Will show ads On Your search history... You can find this option in android google setting. Then Ads settings

Yeah, they almost certainly will pay the fine without a heck lot more hassle. I'd be interested in seeing what happens though, when Google does not agree on paying the fine. What could the EU do? It couldn't do anything against Google. If they ban Google, they're gonna find hundreds of millions of people unhappy and a lot of problems in their economy.

Though, as you said, it's not that much money for Google and they can make the 4.3 billion back in 2 weeks. The larger problem Google faces here is that they have to change things, which will inevitably lower their revenue and require more effort. In the long run, they may be losing more than 4.3 Billion due to the changes they have to make.

[DgurJIupyf]

What will happen,if Google refuses to pay that fine?Can all EU countries ban the use of all Google services (Gmail,Youtube,Drive,Blogger,Adwords,Adsense,Search,MyBusiness) in their jurisdictions?No,they can`t.This will cause a lot of online businesses to bankrupt.I`m not on Goggle`s side.It`s really hard to stop a global monopoly like them to smash(or buy) the competition.Perhaps the blockchain is a way to stop the tech giants?

I also believe that it is not worth competing with the "breadwinner"!!!! Google though damn progresses in advertising on the Internet and in the hidden marketing, but I think the European Union will not be able to take the announced amount with this company.

[First77]

I don't know if Google's motto is still "don't be evil" but I sure as hell don't trust them, even if they tell me what they're doing, buried pages deep in their preferences page.  That hasn't stopped me from using them, though.

A google executive was killed by a prostitute. Use google.com for the news. what do you expect from google ??

[mamarried]

EU says Google illegally pushes searches, browser Android

Google received a record 4.3 billion-euro ($5 billion) antitrust fine from the European Union and was ordered to change the way it puts search and web-browser apps onto Android mobile devices.The penalty -- the same amount the Netherlands contributes to the EU budget every year -- is far higher than any other dished out by the U.S., Chinese or other antitrust authorities. More significantly, Google was given until mid-October to stop what the EU called "illegal practices" on contracts with handset manufacturers that push its services in front of users. It faces daily fines of 5 percent of revenue if it doesn’t obey.

Google owner Alphabet Inc. generated about the same amount of money as the penalty every 16 days in 2017, based on the company’s reported annual revenue of $110.9 billion.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles

One of the most important things about Google that I have heard from recent times is that they have announced a partnership with one particular currency named Cardano, and if there's rumours will be improved, omG...

[Aveatrex]

I was on real estate website magicbricks.com and I searched for "panvel navi mumbai". Next day when I was on other websites, I was getting google ads for "magicbricks panvel properties".

Well, yeah, that's what they do and they've been doing it for a very long time now.  Their game, just like Facebook and all the other social media websites, is to get your information so they can sell it to advertisers.  How do you think they manage to achieve those enormous revenues?  Back in 2007, Google looked like a really risky tech investment and there were people who wouldn't have the stock in their portfolios--and those people lost out on a chance to make a fortune.

I don't know if Google's motto is still "don't be evil" but I sure as hell don't trust them, even if they tell me what they're doing, buried pages deep in their preferences page.  That hasn't stopped me from using them, though.

In any case, hopefully they do pay the fine if it's a fair one.  Sometimes big corporations getting hit is good for them, as it forces them to do some much-needed introspection. 

I wouldn't consider that as selling user informations to advertisers but they use it in order to improve their ads targeting technology,thats 2 different things.It's funny but it makes me remember a video that I watched on YouTube where a guy did an experiment,he talked while his microphone is on about products for dogs and when he got into websites that have Google Ads,90% of them were dogs products.That's what make their ads effective making them receive a lot of demand from companies that would like to advertise.Another example is,if you check coinmarketcap you'll only find their ads related to crypto,ICOs etc... And this kind of operating shouldn't be confused with Facebook fiasco,where Facebook isn't even guilty somewhat cause the company that harvested users information made an app similar to those "Personality tests" which obviously were allowed in Facebook.

[First77]

And this kind of operating shouldn't be confused with Facebook fiasco,where Facebook isn't even guilty somewhat cause the company that harvested users information made an app similar to those "Personality tests" which obviously were allowed in Facebook.

This could be the beginning of the end of Facebook and google ads.