Items tagged with European Union
The European Commission has been known to levy stiff penalties on some of the world's biggest technology firms over various anticompetitive practices, with Qualcomm now being the latest. In a press release issued today, the European regulatory agency announced it was fining Qualcomm €997 million, equivalent to more...
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Uber has been on an incredible losing streak over the past year; granted much of its troubles have been at its own hands with scandal after scandal. The most recent of those scandals started with an ex-employee who sent a letter detailing all the hacking and bribery that Uber has allegedly engaged in over the years...
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Google just cannot seem to catch a break from European regulators. Fresh off being hit with a record-setting €2.42 billion fine (around $2.7 billion in U.S. currency) for favoring its own shopping search engine in search results over third-party comparison shopping tools, antitrust regulators in the European Union are...
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When the European Union comes at technology firms for perceived antitrust violations, it comes at them hard. Such is the case yet again, this time with the European Commission issuing a record-breaking fine of €2.42 billion (around $2.7 billion in U.S. currency) to Google for running afoul of antitrust law. The fine...
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The Google/European Union saga continues and could potentially lead to heavy consequences for Google. The corporation could face fines above €1 billion, with some estimating a fine as high as $1.4 billion USD. Google could also be forced to change how it manages its services and operations in the EU.
The EU...
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Facebook is feeling the burn today thanks to actions taken by the European Union. The company came under fire both at home and abroad when it announced last year WhatsApp would begin sharing user information with its parent (which just so happens to be Facebook). This flew in the face of comments that WhatsApp made...
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The European Commission is doing its best Oprah Winfrey impression, though instead of giving away cars, it's focusing on Wi-Fi access to the public sector—you get free Wi-Fi, and you get free Wi-Fi, and you get free Wi-Fi! It's a €120 million (~$135 million in U.S. currency) effort to bring free Wi-Fi to all facets of...
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Image Source: Flickr (William Murphy)
Apple is on the hook for 13 billion euros (around $14.5 billion in U.S. currency) in back taxes owed to Ireland after the European Union ruled the company had dodged its tax obligations by taking advantage of a loophole. Naturally Apple isn't happy about the ruling. Apple chief...
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Apple’s longstanding beef in the European Union over allegations of tax dodging has finally come to a dramatic end (pending an appeal, of course). In essence, Apple simply delayed the inevitable, as the European Commission is ordering that the American tech giant repay 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in back taxes to...
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If Google had been hoping that the European Union would back off on its pursuit of proving that it's anti-competitive, it appears that the company hasn't been hoping hard enough. Today, the EU shot another set of charges at Google for anti-competitive practices, this time squarely targeting its AdSense for Search...
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As huge as Google is, it's sometimes easy to think of it as being invincible. The American company seemingly gets away with whatever it wants simply because it dominates its competition. But, the European Union has time and time again proven that Google is not invincible, and in fact, it could now be facing the EU's...
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After looking into the matter, the European Commission has given Western Digital its blessing to complete the company's proposed acquisition of rival SanDisk. Regulators ultimately decided that the pairing of two U.S. storage giants would not adversely affect competition in Europe, in part because the overlap between...
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A power saving feature found in some of Samsung's televisions has come under scrutiny by an independent test lab in Europe. The lab claims that Samsung TV's with "motion lighting" use less energy during official certification tests than they do in real-world use, the implication being that Samsung might be cheating...
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The very ornery European Commission has set its sights on mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, which is the focus of two formal antitrust investigations into possible abusive behavior related to baseband chipsets used in consumer electronic devices. What investigators are looking into is whether or not Qualcomm essentially...
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Back in April, the EU hit Google with antitrust charges for alleged favoritism it gives its own services in search results. Being that Google is so dominant in the search game, this is a big deal to companies that feel that it's placing its inferior services above their own.
Yelp is one of those companies, and one...
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European regulators are holding Google's feet to the fire over what they claim are various search shenanigans, such as Google promoting its own shopping services by displaying them at the top and burying non-paying rivals way below. Matt Brittin, Vice President of Google in the U.K., addressed the anti-trust charges...
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Facing accusations from the Belgian Privacy Commission dating back to February that it is violating the privacy rights of its users, Facebook yesterday confirmed that the watchdog group had uncovered a "bug" that mistakenly tracked people even when they were not on the social media giant's website, but denied the...
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Tensions between the European Union and Google never seem to subside, nor are they likely to anytime soon as the former reportedly prepares to issue antitrust charges against the latter as part of a five-year investigation. Early indications are that this could be the most high-profile antitrust case brought on by the EU since it spanked Microsoft with
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Google is again the target of a controversial measure in the European Union as its parliament draws up a draft motion to separate the company's search engine business from its other operations, which it proposes is one possible solution to Google's dominance. The draft motion is backed by the European People's Party...
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Telecom companies opposed to Facebook's proposed $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp, a highly popular mobile messenger service, can go pound sand. That's basically what the European Commission said by approving the deal despite the outcry from telecoms that will have to find a way to compete with free voice-call...
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Google may have more money than it knows what to do with, but that doesn't mean it's willing to pay a potential $5 billion fine without putting up a fight. That's the upper amount the Mountain View company faces as European Union regulators continue their antitrust probe into how Google operates its search services...
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Time heals all wounds, but it doesn't make fines go away. Microsoft may find that out this month if the European Union goes forth with plans to fine the software giant in the coming weeks. The fine, which could be significant, relates to Microsoft's failure to comply with a so-called browser ballot feature it agreed...
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