Next week, the European Commission plans to announce a series of tough decisions against Google. This move will be part of increased oversight of tech giants' actions, occurring against the backdrop of reduced tensions in relations with Washington, reports Financial Times.
Threat of multimillion payments
According to sources, the department will issue a number of decisions on fines, the total amount of which could amount to hundreds of millions of euros. Moreover, in the event of non-compliance with new norms, the company faces the threat of daily penalty payments. These sanctions are linked to the results of two key investigations.
The first ruling concerns the fact that Google illegally gives preference to its own services in the areas of shopping, travel, and other services in search results, harming competitors. The second requirement obliges Google to give app developers in the "Play Store" the freedom to direct users to alternative resources.
Risks under the "Digital Markets Act"
Both investigations are being conducted under the "Digital Markets Act" (DMA). Violation of this law threatens companies with fines of up to 10% of global turnover. For comparison: last year, the Alphabet holding, which owns Google, reported revenue of $402.83 billion.
If the company fails to comply with DMA requirements within 60 days, it faces periodic penalty payments. Despite this, Google is stubbornly trying to negotiate with the European Commission and settle the investigation, hoping to get away with only a fine for past violations. The exact amount of new fines is not specified in the department's internal documents, however, non-compliance with requirements "should be considered a serious violation".
Data access and competition in the AI sector
This week, Brussels must decide on another important issue: is Google obliged to provide third-party search engines with access to data from its own search service, including ranking mechanisms, queries, clicks, and views. The company warns that such a decision would put user privacy at risk.
In addition, the Commission will determine to what extent Google must provide third-party artificial intelligence service providers with access to the same functions as its own Gemini. The goal is to ensure equal conditions of competition in the AI tools market.
