Google may get hit with record EU antitrust fine - CNET

Google may face a record antitrust fine from the European Commission in the coming weeks, according to the British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph.

The EU is considering levying a fine of about 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) against the web giant over its dominance in the search market, according to a Reuters account of the report. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google and the European Union have engaged in a drawn-out battle over search for six years. At issue are the EU's claims that Google has abused its position as the world's most dominant search engine in unfairly prioritizing its shopping services over those of competitors.

The EU's probe of Google began in 2010 but has repeatedly stalled because the company and the commission could not agree on settlement terms.

The biggest antitrust fine to date was the 1.06 billion euros ($1.45 billion) levied against Intel in 2009 for engaging in illegal anticompetitive practices to exclude competitors from the market for computer chips.