+business
The EU fines Google $1.69 billion for bundling search and advertising [arstechnica.com]
Google and the EU's European Commission are making all sorts of announcements lately. Fresh off the revelation that Google would implement a browser and search-engine picker [arstechnica.com] in EU-sold Android devices, Google's advertising division is getting slapped with a fine next, to the tune of €1.5 billion ($1.69 billion). The European Commission's latest antitrust ruling says that Google's bundling of its advertising platform with its custom search engine program is anti-competitive toward other ad providers.
The particular wing of Google's advertising empire the Commission is concerned with here is "AdSense for Search." Adsense for Search does not [google.com] refer to the famous ads above Google.com search results but, instead, are ads displayed in "Custom Search" results that can be embedded inside their websites.
Related: EU Fines Google $5 Billion for Android Antitrust Violations [soylentnews.org]
Google Case Set to Examine if EU Data Rules Extend Globally [soylentnews.org]