Coughing Up Billions: The Pricey Ride of Google's Fine Spree Since 2017

Alphabet Inc.'s GOOGL has been involved in several lawsuits throughout its nearly 25-year history. The latest in this list is a $15 million fine for infringing two patents held by Personal Audio LLC. We have compiled a list of all the heavy fines that Google has been slapped with since 2017, and the figure is staggering.

What Happened: An analysis by Benzinga has revealed that Google has been fined over $10.63 billion since 2017 by regulators and courts around the world. These fines range from violating antitrust and anti-competition norms to patent and privacy violations.

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Our analysis reveals that nearly 90% of these fines were imposed by European Union regulators. Between 2017 and 2019, EU regulators have fined Google $9.5 billion for antitrust practices. It is worth noting that this list is not exhaustive, so some minor cases might not be included.

Here's a glance at the biggest fines imposed on Google since 2017:

$2.7 Billion In 2017 For Illegally Favoring Its Own Shopping Service

In what would be the beginning of the European Commission coming down heavily on Google for antitrust practices, the search giant was fined $2.7 billion in June 2017 for violating EU antitrust rules. The Commission found Google guilty of illegally favoring its own shopping service by abusing its market dominance in search.

This fine did not have any major impact on Google's share price, which closed 1.4% higher.

$5.1 Billion In 2018 For Forcing Android Device Manufacturers To Pre-install Its Apps

In a record $5.1 billion fine in July 2018, the European Commission concluded that Google violated the EU antitrust rules by illegally forcing Android device manufacturers to install Google apps like Search and Chrome to access Play Store. The ruling said that Google did this to cement its dominant position in search.

Despite the record fine, Google's shares ended only 1.1% lower.

$1.7 Billion In 2019 For Abusive Practices In Online Advertising

Google's cash cow, advertising, was at the center of the $1.7 billion fine imposed by the European Commission in March 2019.

In its ruling, the Commission observed that Google violated antitrust practices in its online advertising business, preventing its rivals from placing their advertisements on third-party websites by using restrictive clauses.

Google's shares edged 0.8% higher despite the adverse ruling.

$391.5 Million In 2022 For Misleading Users About Location Tracking

Google settled an 11-year-long case in November 2022 with 40 US state attorneys, agreeing to pay $391.5 million. The ruling in the matter outlined that Google misled its users into thinking that they had turned off locating tracking while Google continued to track their location.

Google's shares were largely unchanged, closing 0.4% higher.

$275 Million In 2022 For Anti-competitive Practices

India's competition watchdog, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), imposed a cumulative fine of $275 million in two cases in October 2022. The CCI found that Google violated anti-competition rules by abusing its dominant position to favor its own payments system and forcing Android device manufacturers to pre-install Google apps.

Google's shares plummeted by 9% on Oct. 25, 2022, but that was due to a rout in US tech stocks due to disappointing results.

Apart from these, Google has also been fined by regulators from France and South Korea, among other countries. It is currently facing a $25.4 billion claim in UK and Dutch courts over its advertising practices.

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