Google fined $1.7 Billion over advertising market abuse

It's the third time the commission has slapped Google with an antitrust penalty, following multibillion-dollar fines resulting from separate probes into two other parts of the Silicon Valley giant's business.

Brussels: European Union regulators have hit Google with a 1.49 billion euro (1.68 billion US dollars) fine for abusing its dominant role in online advertising.

The EU's competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, announced the results of the long-running probe of Google's AdSense advertising business case at a news conference in Brussels on wednesday.

It's the third time the commission has slapped Google with an antitrust penalty, following multibillion-dollar fines resulting from separate probes into two other parts of the Silicon Valley giant's business.

Last year Vestager hit the company with a record 4.34 billion euro (5 billion US dollars) fine following an investigation into its Android operating system. In 2017, she slapped Google with a 2.42 billion euro (2,7 billion US dollars) fine in a case involving its online shopping search results.

(Inputs from AP)