Alex Webb, Columnist

Google’s $1.7 Billion Warning for Silicon Valley

Europe really doesn’t like the “move fast and break things” approach from tech these days.

March 20, 2019 at 11:37 AM UTC

Updated on

March 20, 2019 at 12:31 PM UTC

Alex Webb is a correspondent for Bloomberg Quicktake. He previously covered the technology, telecoms and media industries in London, San Francisco and Munich.

That’s a whopping fine.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

If there was any lingering suspicion that the final months of Margrethe Vestager’s tenure as European Commissioner for Competition would fizzle out quietly, Wednesday’s announcement on Google has dispelled it.

She’s imposed a remarkable 1.5 billion-euro ($1.7 billion) fine on the Alphabet Inc. division for its historical practice of forcing websites using its search bar to display only advertisements served by its Ad Sense for Search product. Sure, it’s less than the earlier fines of 2.4 billion euros and 4.3 billion euros apiece, but it’s more than a lot of observers had expected.