There is a rumor that European antitrust officials are preparing a record fine against Google. Margrethe Vestager, the European Union's competition chief, is reported 'in the final stages of ruling on the case'.
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I've read about that rumor within several news sites. First it was mentioned at this Reuters article, now also other news sites like New York Times has articles about that topic. According to sources involved into that matter, EU antitrust regulators aim to slap a hefty fine on Google until August 2017.
This will end a seven-year investigation against Google's search engine practice. Reuters wrote: 'The EU competition authority accused Google in April 2015 of distorting internet search results to favour its shopping service, harming both rivals and consumers.' New York Times writes, that the financial penalty is expected to be larger than the fine of 1.06 billion euros, that Intel was forced to fork out for antitrust abuses in Europe in 2009. A fine may be 10 % of Google's income, which was 90 billion in 2016 – so the fine could be up to 9 billion US $. Further details may be read within the New York Times article.
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