The search engine giant Google has to pay a fine of 150 million euros in France. The US group has exploited its dominant market position in search engine advertising, said the French competition authority.
Specifically, the Parisian competition authorities accuse Google of having prevented the development of alternative offers by means of opaque rules for advertisers.
"Exceptionally dominant position"
Google has an "extremely dominant position" in search engine advertising, said head of government Isabelle De Silva. It is between 90 and 100 percent. The company must now clarify within two months how it intends to improve the situation for its customers. It is the third-highest penalty that the French competition authority has said it has given so far for market abuse.
Google has recently come under pressure in the United States and in Brussels. In September, prosecutors in almost every state in the United States teamed up to investigate Google. The investigation is said to clarify whether Google hindered competition in the Internet advertising business.
The EU competition authorities asked Google to pay around 1.49 billion euros in March. In the search engine advertising in the "AdSense for Search" service, other providers were inadmissibly hindered, the reason was in the spring.
