THE EUROPEAN UNION just fined Google $2.7 billion. And that might not even be the worst news for Mountain View.
Today the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, also ordered Google to change the way it displays search results from its online shopping tool. When you search for a product, Google has long shown results from Google Shopping in a box that floats above its regular search results. The commission ruled that this preferential treatment of its own content is illegal and anti-competitive. The company has 90 days to begin ranking its own shopping comparison in the same way it lists those from competitors, or face additional fines of up to five percent of its average annual turnover. The order only applies to search results in the European Union.
The big issue for Google isn’t necessarily the fine, or even the change to its shopping listings. It’s the fact that regulators are forcing it to change how it handles search. The company has been retooling its search results to be more than just a list of websites. As Google expands into new areas, such as voice-controlled virtual assistants, it seeks to provide people with what they’re looking for directly, whether that’s an answer to a question, the address of a restaurant, or a list of nearby movie showings. Today’s order chips away at that idea by opening the door to more lawsuits.
That’s good news for competing shopping sites, which can now also sue Google in European civil court, and potentially for other companies as well. Yelp has long complained about the way Google lists its own restaurant reviews over those of competitors, and today’s decision could be the first step towards changing that.
Since Google can still appeal the case, it’s still too early for those competitors to celebrate, though some hope it’s a signal of changes to come. “This will be the most significant enforcement event in consumer tech antitrust in nearly 20 years,” Yelp VP of policy Luther Lowe wrote on Twitter yesterday, citing the Justice Department’s landmark ruling against Microsoft in 2000 as the last major event in tech antitrust history. But the potential impact is still far from certain.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.wired.com