The European Union (EU) has slapped Google with a 2.42 billion euro ($2.72 billion U.S.) fine for breaching antitrust rules with its online shopping service.
The European Commission gave Google 90 days to halt this practice, or they will face fines of up to 5 per cent of the average daily worldwide turnover of parent company Alphabet, which has more than $92 billion U.S. in cash and almost $56 billion in accounts outside of Europe.
The Commission could have also fined Google up to 10 per cent of its annual sales, roughly $9 billion.
They claim that Google was using their search engine to promote their shopping service over other options that may have provided better deals on products. Google's response was that they were trying to package its search results to make it easier for consumers to find what they want.
This fine is among the highest ever in Europe for anti-competitive behaviour, surpassing Intel's penalty of 1.06 billion euros in 2009.
Facebook, Apple, and Amazon are also among other American companies to cause a problem with the Commission. Facebook was fined for misleading officials over its takeover of WhatsApp, Apple is fighting over 13 billion euros that they must repay to the Irish government, and Amazon was required to change its distribution agreements for the Commission.
Currently, Nike and Universal Studios are being investigated by the Commission for restricting how traders can sell licensed merchandise.
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