The European Union fined Google $2.7 billion on Tuesday for giving a leg up to its own shopping comparison service at the top of search results. The fine is the largest penalty the EU has levied against any company in the world to date.



The EU says that Google displayed search results from its own comparison shopping service, Google Shopping, at the top of the page, while systematically demoting results from rival comparison shopping services. In addition to paying the fine, Google has 90 days to stop the practice or face penalty payments of up to 5% of the average daily worldwide turnover of its parent company, Alphabet — which made nearly $90 billion in annual revenue by the end of 2016.

“Google has come up with many innovative products and services that have made a difference to our lives,” said the EU commissioner in charge of competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, in a press release. "That's a good thing. But Google's strategy for its comparison shopping service wasn't just about attracting customers by making its product better than those of its rivals. Instead, Google abused its market dominance as a search engine by promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results, and demoting those of competitors."