A record-breaking fine of 2.4 billion euros is still not enough! The EU may sue Google again for search engine monopoly

A record-breaking fine of 2.4 billion euros has just been handed down in court, and the European Union may launch another antitrust lawsuit against Google's search-related business.

On Friday, September 20th, Eastern Time, Bloomberg reported that EU officials are preparing to formally sue Google under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). EU regulators have issued a final warning to Google that if they fail to address the EU's concerns and take prompt action to highlight competitors' products more prominently in their search services, Google could face a hefty fine. This fine could amount to as much as 10% of the company's global annual revenue, along with being ordered to change their business model.

According to sources cited in the report, the preliminary results of the EU's investigation may be announced by the end of October this year, with the timing possibly delayed due to changes in the EU Commission's leadership. Google still has time to address the EU's concerns. A final ruling will be made by the EU by the end of March next year.

The report mentioned that in order to alleviate regulatory concerns about Google's non-compliance, Google's lawyers held closed-door talks with EU Commission officials this week. One proposal put forward by Google mentioned introducing a new design in Google's search tags, allowing users to navigate to other search platforms, or directly to suppliers such as hotel websites and airlines.

If the reported information is accurate, it means that just a month after being heavily fined, Google may face another antitrust charge from the EU.

Last Tuesday, the European Court upheld a lower court's ruling, imposing a 2.4 billion euro (26 billion US dollars) fine on Google for abusing its monopoly power to suppress competitors. This final ruling means that Google cannot appeal this decision.

The case dates back to 2017 when the EU Commission ruled that Google violated EU antitrust laws by displaying its own shopping services prominently in search engine results while demoting competitors. The 2.4 billion euro fine set a record for antitrust fines at that time.

An article by Wall Street CN mentioned that the EU's antitrust enforcement agencies not only focus on Google's dominant position in the search field. Over the past decade, antitrust agencies have conducted multiple investigations into Google and imposed fines totaling 8.25 billion euros. The case ruled on last Tuesday was the first of the three fines.

In 2018, Google was fined 4.3 billion euros for allegedly imposing restrictions in its contract terms, prohibiting tablet and smartphone manufacturers from adding competitors' apps and web browsers to devices running the Android system. Less than a year later, Google signed exclusive online advertising agreements with its AdSense search advertising product, suppressing advertising competitors, resulting in a fine of 1.49 billion euros.

Just this Wednesday, Google scored a victory in its lawsuit against the EU, winning an appeal in the aforementioned nearly 1.5 billion euro fine related to advertising placements.

The EU General Court stated on Wednesday that it accepted "most of the assessments" by the EU Commission regarding Google's use of its dominant position to prevent competitors from placing ads on third-party websites, but overturned the massive fine imposed on Google in this case