Skip to Content
Silicon Valley

Google has just been hit with a $1.7 billion fine by the European Union

March 20, 2019

It’s being punished over restrictive contracts forced on customers using its AdSense business.

Specifically: Google is accused of abusing its dominant position by forcing customers to advertise solely through AdSense, the product that places relevant ads on websites. This “denied other companies the possibility to compete on the merits and to innovate,” EU antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager (pictured) said in a press conference. This misconduct went on for over a decade, she added.

Third time unlucky: This is Google’s third big fine from the EU, following a record $5 billion fine last year for abusing its market dominance in mobile, and $2.7 billion in 2017 for manipulating shopping search results. These are both being appealed. The fine for AdSense malpractices was smaller because Google worked with the EU to changes its policies after the investigation was launched in 2016.

Sign up here to our daily newsletter The Download to get your dose of the latest must-read news from the world of emerging tech.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

This new data poisoning tool lets artists fight back against generative AI

The tool, called Nightshade, messes up training data in ways that could cause serious damage to image-generating AI models. 

The Biggest Questions: What is death?

New neuroscience is challenging our understanding of the dying process—bringing opportunities for the living.

Rogue superintelligence and merging with machines: Inside the mind of OpenAI’s chief scientist

An exclusive conversation with Ilya Sutskever on his fears for the future of AI and why they’ve made him change the focus of his life’s work.

How to fix the internet

If we want online discourse to improve, we need to move beyond the big platforms.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.