https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2017/03/29/10/google-porn.jpg

>EU antitrust regulators aim to slap a hefty fine on Alphabet unit Google over its shopping service before the summer break in August, two people familiar with the matter said, setting the stage for two other cases involving the US company.

>The European Commission's decision will come after a seven-year investigation into the world's most popular internet search engine was triggered by scores of complaints from both US and European rivals.

>Fines for companies found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules can reach 10 per cent of their global turnover, which in Google's case could be about $9bn of its 2016 turnover.

I can only dream that Google will be fined 9 billion dollars from this investigation but I have a feeling it will be much less. The investigation is because of google shopping cart where it was giving it's preferred vendors better search results than non-preferred. Now this seems like a no brainier that a company would give better treatment to vendors paying for a service but apparently that's not the case in Europe. 

However, I can see why google should be more like a public utility rather than a private company because they do have a very large monopoly on the search engine business where companies can literally die overnight if google censors them. The end results of these fines concern me though. I think it might push google in a position of censoring "offensive" websites like alternative news media sites because they are trying to be more like a public utility and please the government regulators.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this fine and how google responds to it. If it's 9 billion than I think they'll be upping their censorship game.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/google-eu-fine-search-9-billion-search-results-rigging-alphabet-shopping-service-a7768621.html