BLOOMBERG – Google has agreed to pay €220 million and end anti-competitive practices, to settle a French antitrust probe over its abuse of power in online advertising. The French Competition Authority said Google has been unfairly sending business to its advertising server and its online ad auction house, to the detriment of rivals. In addition to the fine, Google promised to remedy the situation by improving the interoperability of its Google Ad Manager services for third parties.
Google's subsidiary in Uruguay, Eleanor Applications SRL, Friday purchased 30 hectares in the duty-free Science Park in Canelones, where it will install a data centre, it was announced.
An Argentine internet user claimed realized ownership of the google.com.ar domain had expired Wednesday, April 21 and since it was available, he decided to purchase it for reportedly AR $ 540 (around the US $ 3.85 at the unofficial exchange rate) leading to a temporary shutdown of the search engine ending in “.ar”.
After a last-gasp deal that watered-down binding rules Facebook and Google had fiercely opposed in return for the tech giants agreeing to pay local media companies, Australia's parliament passed landmark legislation on Thursday. The dispute was closely watched around the world.
Google apparently has struck deals with Australian media to pay for news content, but Facebook on Thursday blocked Australian users from sharing or viewing news content on the platform.
Landmark legislation to force Alphabet's Google and Facebook to pay publishers and broadcasters for content, will be introduced by Australia next week. The bill and its outcome is being closely watched around the world.
Google's dominance of digital advertising technology in Australia needs to be addressed, the country's competition watchdog said, opening up another front in its battle with the US giant.
Services from Alphabet Inc’s Google were restored for most users on Monday after it experienced widespread outages around the world, preventing people from accessing Gmail, YouTube and other products.
The Tannat cable system connecting Uruguay and Brazil by sea has now been officially extended to Argentina. The cable is co-owned by Uruguay’s state-run telco Antel and by Google. Active since 2018, the 2,000km system links Maldonado, near Montevideo in Uruguay, to Praia Grande/Santos in Brazil’s São Paulo state.
The US sued Google on Tuesday, accusing the US$1 trillion company of illegally using its market muscle to hobble rivals in the biggest challenge to the power and influence of Big Tech in decades.