Bad times for Google! The EU competition authorities
have fined Google for 1.69 billion US$ as Google has
hindered other competitors to fully use the “AdSense for
Search” feature.

AdSense for Search allows other websites to use Google search masks. However the implementation of Google Search inside another website seems to block access to other advertising services (Bing for example) and thus hinders competition. If Google Search is used inline, Google Ads are always shown preferred to other ad services. This is a clear violation of free market competition and thus had to be fined! It’s the third fine Google has to swallow: In 2017 Google has been fined 2.75 billion US$ for manipulating search results to show google-favorising sarch results first. In 2018 Google got fined again, this time for a whopping 4.93 billion US$ for blocking competitors using Android in their manner and Google using Android as reason to make Google Search the preferred search engine.

According to these fines, Google has already altered some parts inside Android to allow users to select the browser of their choice and also use their preferred search engine. License agreements have been adapted to allow device manufacturers to bundle their devices with the search engine of their choice and not limited down to use Google seach by default. Same is valid for the browser: Instead of pre-installing Google Chrome, manufacturers can now install the browser of their choice.

This is indeed necessary as the implementation of Google-based services (Chrome, Search) is also tied to license fees to be paid to Google which impacts on the device price.

Google has misused their monopolistic situation for a decade now and thus the fine is that high.