Tech Giant, Google, was fined $5 billion by the European Commission on Wednesday for breaking antitrust laws by pushing its apps on smartphone users and subsequently shutting its competitors out of the market.
This amount is almost double that of a previous fine of $2.7 billion the company received in 2017 for unfairly favoring its own services in internet search results.
The fine has been calculated according to the value of Google’s revenue from search advertising services on Android devices in the European Economic Area (EEA).
The European Commission said that Google broke the law by requiring manufacturers to install Google Search and Chrome as the default or exclusive search engine and browser as a condition for licensing Google’s app store. According to a report by CNN, it said that Google paid some large smartphone makers and network operators to install apps on phones before they were sold. The company also prevented manufacturers from selling devices running on alternative versions of its Android operating system.
Because it has a market share of over 80 percent in many countries, these actions essentially locked competitors out of the search market, giving Google an almost monopoly.
Google is required to stop these practices within 90 days or it will face additional fines and consequences.
The tech giant has said that it would appeal the decision.
By Daniëlle Kruger
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