Google Could Be Fined By EU, Says Report After Trump's Warning To Europe Over $140 Million Fine On Musk's X

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Google is expected to be fined by antitrust regulators of the European Union (EU) next year for failing to comply with EU rules against favouring its own products and services in search results, as per Reuters, which cited people in the know.

The amount of the expected fine was not specified, nor when next year this fine was expected to be imposed on Google.

Neither Google, nor the European Commission (EC), which as the competition enforcer for the EU, have publicly commented yet on the development.

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A fine on Google if imposed next year would come on the heels of the $140 million penalty imposed on Elon Musk's X by the EU, which had riled the United States, including President Donald Trump, who had warned the Europe to“be very careful.”

“Oh, that's a nasty one. Elon [Musk] has not called me to ask for help on that one. But no, it's a tough thing. I don't think it's right,” Trump had said at White House event at the time.

“I'll speak about it later. I'm going to get a full report on it. Look, Europe has to be very careful. They're doing a lot of things. We want to keep Europe, Europe,” the US President had warned.

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The President's backers too had lambasted the EU, with Vice-President J D Vance saying,“Rumors swirling that the EU commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for not engaging in censorship. The EU should be supporting free speech, not attacking American companies over garbage.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio had stronger words, calling the fine on X an“attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments”.

As for Musk himself, the Tesla and SpaceX chief was fuming, labelling the action“bulls**t,” and calling for the abolition of the EU.

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Reuters reported that the case pits the Mountain View-headquartered search giant against specialised search engines that have ties to different sectors, such as the hotels, airlines, transport services, and restaurants.

They also compete for prominence in Google's search results, which results in conflicting demands on the search giant.

The charges by the EC against Google came in March this year, and since then the company has offered several tweaks to its search results, the last being in October.

The tweaks, however, still did not satisfy requirements under the EU's Digital Markets Act, Reuters said citing people with knowledge of the matter.

While Google can still make changes to avoid a fine, the search giant had earlier said that any further tweaks to its Search service would prioritise the interests of a small group of intermediaries over European businesses who want to sell directly to their customers.

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Violations of the clauses of EU Digital Markets Act can lead to hefty penalties, as much as 10% of a company's global annual turnover.

Separately from this case, Google is also facing an investigation into its app store Google Play, where there's also a risk of a fine being imposed, as per Reuters.

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