Tech giant Google has been hit with a $1.7bn fine after being found guilty of breaching antitrust regulations for a third time.
An European Union commission found that Google was willfully and knowingly preventing competitors from placing ads on third party websites by means of restrictive clauses on AdSense contracts.
Google uses AdSense as the ‘middle man’ between advertisers and websites intent on profiting from advertising. But by imposing certain clauses on contracts issued, Google was effectively turfing out any possible competition.
According to regulators, such practice went on for the best part of the last decade.
This is the third time that Google has been hit with major fines for offences related to unfair advertising practices.