Google faces €3bn fine for promoting its own shopping service in searches

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Google could be hit with a fine as high as €3 billion (£2.3 billion) from the European Commission in the coming weeks, according to reports.

The Commission’s decision would put an end to a seven year investigation over the web giant’s alleged abuse of dominance in the online search market.

European authorities are claiming that Google has abused its position as a search engine to unfairly prioritise its shopping services over those of its competitors.

The Sunday Telegraph has said the fine could be as much as €3.4 billion, making it an all-time high for an EU antitrust fine and far larger than the €1.1 billion fine levied in 2009 against Intel, the largest semiconductor maker.

However it is only half of the €6.6 billion maximum penalty (10 per cent of the firm’s revenues) that the Google could face, according to European law.

Google will also be banned from further manipulating search results.

An official decision on fines and other measures are could come as early as next month but the bill has yet to be finalised, according to reports.

Sources familiar with the matter said they believed that after three failed attempts at a compromise in the past six years, Google had no plans to try to settle the allegations unless the EU watchdog changed its stance.

Both Google and the European Commission have declined to comment on the matter.

The news comes a month after the EU accused Google to give unfair advantage to its own software on smartphones running its Android operating system.

Speaking to Reuters, Google denied that it forces phone companies into exclusive contracts, with spokesman Mark Jansen saying: “Anyone can use Android with or without Google applications. Hardware manufacturers and carriers can decide how to use Android and consumers have the last word about which apps they want to use.”

Google recently announced a £130 million tax deal with HMRC in Janaury after years of criticism over its tax bill.

The deal was criticised as too low by some opposition politicians, with shadow chancellor John McDonnell saying the sum was trivial and derisory.

The European Commission is bringing forward a plan to make major multinationals such as Google, Amazon and Facebook disclose exactly where and how much tax they pay across the continent.