What's behind the record fine for Google?
The EU has hit Google with an 890-million-euro fine for unfair business practices. The US company was ruled to have used its market dominance to breach competition regulations via its search engine and app store, Google Play, to the detriment of its competitors. Commentators reflect on market power and its abuse.
Absolutely justified
Die Süddeutsche Zeitung praises the fine as an act of European sovereignty:
“Google has abused its market power in the EU and must therefore pay 890 million euros. With this decision, the European Commission in Brussels is safeguarding the very thing that holds Europe together most strongly: the single market. This market is the largest free trade zone in the world and only functions if all businesses uphold the law. Google has clearly not done so. ... Which is why the fine is absolutely justified. ... Ultimately, the dispute will end up before a European court. That's how things work in the EU, a union of nations, which, after all, offers businesses something that is under threat elsewhere: legal certainty.”
The US will battle this out
The next round in an endless battle, laments La Repubblica:
“US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is flexing his muscles and issuing threats after Brussels imposed the fourth fine running into billions against Google in nine years: 890 million for breaching the Digital Markets Act by favouring its own services to the detriment of competitors and for hindering competition amongst developers on Google Play. .. The measure is being branded by Greer as a real risk to continued transatlantic stability on trade matters'. ... Yet another skirmish in a fight where we've lost count of the rounds.”
Exploiting a legal loophole
Silicon Valley's offspring have long been able to evade regulations, comments Les Echos:
“The Californian IT heavyweights initially took advantage of a legal loophole that allowed them to expand their influence with impunity. They were not necessarily breaking the law, but they were exploiting the absence of a sherif and of laws to curb their new activities. From Uber to AI companies, from Neobanks to Airbnb, they all charged ahead even though they knew that if they were successful they would have to face some form of regulation one day. But by that time they would be big and powerful enough that the laws designed to rein them in would also act as entry barriers that would slow down the competition. But no matter how innovative you are, you still have to play by the rules.”