The European Commission has slapped Google with a record-breaking fine of $5 billion for violating anti-trust laws. The European Commission says Google has abused its position in three major areas. Google has been compulsorily bundling Search and Chrome with its Play Store and operating system. It has blocked phone manufacturers from running forked versions of Android and it has paid phone manufacturers (like Apple) and service providers to "exclusively pre-install the Search app on their devices." The commission now requires Google to bring a stop to these violations within three months. It has threatened to slap it with another fine amounting to 5% of Google's average daily revenue, in case the company does not comply with the commission's ruling. It has also stated that Google will become liable to face suits by "any person or business affected by its anti-competitive behaviour." EU regulators are pissed with Google Google now has to stop forcing manufacturers to pre-install Chrome and Google search in order to offer the Google Play Store on handsets, the commission has found that bundling has "reduced the ability of rivals to compete effectively with Google" and concluded that Google's defense of bundling was not "well-founded". Google told the commission bundling is necessary in order to monetise its investment in Android. Google will also need to stop preventing phone makers from using forked versions of Android, as the commission says Google “did not provide any credible evidence that Android forks would be affected by technical failures or fail to…
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