By Foo Yun Chee

Brussels/Washington (Reuters) – The European Commission inflicted a fine of 2.95 billion euros on Google on Friday for anti -competitive practices as part of the use of its advertising technologies (“Adtech”).

This is the fourth fine imposed by the European Commission in ten years on the technology giant, a subsidiary of the Alphabet group.

This fine follows a complaint from the Council of European Publishers and intervenes while US President Donald Trump threatens to take retaliatory measures against the European Union (EU) in the event of pressure against American technological companies.

The White House tenant was not long in reacting, evoking a “very unfair” and “discriminatory” decision.

“We cannot let such a thing to achieve the shiny and unprecedented ingenuity of the Americans and, if that happens, I will be forced to start a procedure under article 301 to cancel the unjust penalties imposed on these American companies which pay taxes,” wrote Donald Trump on his social network Truth, also evoking the sanctions of the EU.

Section 301 of the 1974 United States foreign trade law enabled it to penalize foreign countries engaging in “unjustifiable”, “unreasonable” acts, or weighing on American trade.

Although Google intends to appeal, the Commission has warned against more severe measures – including potential transfers – if the company fails to resolve its conflicts of interest.

The European Competition Authority had initially planned to announce the fine against Google on Monday, but the decision was postponed due to the opposition of the European Commerce Commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, who was worried about the impact of American customs duties in the European automotive sector.

According to the Commission, Google has been promoting its own online advertising technology services since 2014 to the detriment of its rivals.

She ordered Google to put an end to her self -referencing practices and take measures to put an end to the conflicts of inherent interests. The company has 60 days to inform the Commission of the way it intends to comply with this injunction.

The Commission reiterated its preliminary opinion that Google should give in part of its services, but said it wanted to hear and assess the efforts made by the company to comply with the injunction.

“Google must now propose a serious solution to resolve its conflicts of interest, and if it does not do so, we will not hesitate to impose severe corrective measures,” said competition commissioner, Teresa Ribera, in a press release.

Google criticized the EU’s decision and intends to challenge it before the courts.

“The European Commission’s decision concerning our Adtech services is wrong and we will call on. It imposes an unjustified fine and requires changes that will harm thousands of European companies by making it more difficult,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice-president of Google regulatory affairs in a statement.

“There is nothing anti -competitive in providing services to buyers and advertising sellers, and there are more alternatives to our services than ever before.”

Google had already been inflicted by the EU a record fine of 4.3 billion euros in 2018, 2.42 billion euros in 2017 and 1.49 billion euros in 2019.

(Written by Foo Yun Chee, with Jasper Ward in Washington, Kate Entringer and Benjamin Mallet)

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