|
|
|
EU fines Google $1.7 bn for unfair online ad rules
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
|
|
IANS | 20 Mar, 2019
The European Union's antitrust regulators on Wednesday fined Google 1.49
billion euros ($1.7 billion) for abusing its dominance in the online
search market by blocking rivals.
Google has abused its market
dominance by imposing a number of restrictive clauses in contracts with
third-party websites which prevented Google's rivals from placing their
search adverts on these websites, the European Commission (EC) said in a
statement.
"Today the Commission has fined Google 1.49 billion
euros for illegal misuse of its dominant position in the market for the
brokering of online search adverts," EC Commissioner Margrethe Vestager
said.
It is the third EU fine for Google in just two years.
"Google
has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself
from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual
restrictions on third-party websites. This is illegal under EU antitrust
rules," Vestager said.
The Commission said the fine which is
equivalent to 1.29 per cent of Google's turnover in 2018 takes account
of the duration and gravity of the infringement.
"The misconduct
lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the possibility to
compete on the merits and to innovate - and consumers the benefits of
competition," Vestager said.
Websites such as newspaper websites, blogs or travel sites aggregators often have a search function embedded.
When
a user searches using this search function, the website delivers both
search results and search adverts, which appear alongside the search
result.
Through AdSense for Search, Google provides these search adverts to owners of "publisher" websites.
Google
is an intermediary, like an advertising broker, between advertisers and
website owners that want to profit from the space around their search
results pages.
Therefore, AdSense for Search works as an online search advertising intermediation platform.
Google
was by far the strongest player in online search advertising
intermediation in the European Economic Area (EEA), with a market share
above 70 per cent from 2006 to 2016.
Google's provision of
online search advertising intermediation services to the most
commercially important publishers took place via agreements that were
individually negotiated.
The Commission reviewed hundreds of
such agreements in the course of its investigation and found that
starting in 2006, Google included exclusivity clauses in its contracts.
This
meant that publishers were prohibited from placing any search adverts
from competitors on their search results pages, the European Commission
said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
|
|
Daily Poll |
|
|
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations |
|
|
|
|
|
Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|