EU fines Google €890M for competition breaches over search and apps
EU fines Google €890M for competition breaches over search and apps
欧盟因搜索与应用商店违规对谷歌处以 8.9 亿欧元罚款
Google has been fined a total of €890m (£760m) by the EU for breaches of online competition laws by its search and app store services. 欧盟因谷歌在搜索和应用商店服务中违反在线竞争法，对其处以总计 8.9 亿欧元（约合 7.6 亿英镑）的罚款。
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said Google had broken the Digital Markets Act by giving priority to its own services, such as shopping and hotel deals, in search results over those of its rivals. 欧盟执行机构欧盟委员会表示，谷歌在搜索结果中优先展示其自身服务（如购物和酒店优惠），而非竞争对手的服务，此举违反了《数字市场法案》（DMA）。
It also infringed the DMA by preventing app developers from steering consumers towards cheaper offers, including for subscriptions, on websites or alternative app stores. 此外，谷歌还通过阻止应用开发者引导消费者前往网站或其他应用商店获取更优惠的价格（包括订阅服务），从而触犯了《数字市场法案》。
Google has been fined €460m for the search-related breach and €430m for the app store violation. The commission has ordered the company to treat third-party services that appear in its search results in a “fair and non-discriminatory manner” and allow app developers to make offers outside Google’s app store. 谷歌因搜索相关违规被罚 4.6 亿欧元，因应用商店违规被罚 4.3 亿欧元。欧盟委员会已责令该公司以“公平且非歧视的方式”对待出现在其搜索结果中的第三方服务，并允许应用开发者在谷歌应用商店之外提供优惠。
It noted that Google had already started testing changes to how it displayed search results featuring its own services. It said those changes represent “substantial progress towards compliance”. 委员会指出，谷歌已经开始测试其搜索结果展示方式的调整，以涵盖其自身服务。委员会表示，这些调整代表了“在合规方面取得了实质性进展”。
Consumers would be direct beneficiaries of the decision by the EU, a senior official said. “Research results will be in different in Europe. They will have to adapt their search engine going forward,” they said. 一位高级官员表示，消费者将直接受益于欧盟的这一决定。“欧洲的搜索结果将会有所不同。他们（谷歌）未来必须调整其搜索引擎，”该官员说道。
Max von Thun, director of the Open Markets Institute Europe thinktank, said the fines were the “bare minimum” for a company that made revenues of just over $400bn last year. 开放市场研究所（Open Markets Institute）欧洲智库主任马克斯·冯·图恩（Max von Thun）表示，对于一家去年营收超过 4000 亿美元的公司来说，这些罚款只是“最低限度”。
“Having finally established Google’s non-compliance, the commission must now move quickly to force Google to end its anti-competitive practices once and for all. Europe’s startups and innovators cannot wait much longer,” he said. “在最终确定谷歌违规后，委员会现在必须迅速采取行动，迫使谷歌彻底终结其反竞争行为。欧洲的初创企业和创新者们已经等不及了，”他说道。
The decision to impose the fine risks the ire of Donald Trump, only hours before a series of temporary global tariffs against about 60 countries expires. 在针对约 60 个国家的全球临时关税即将到期前几个小时，做出这一罚款决定可能会引发唐纳德·特朗普的不满。
A senior official for the EU said they had no knowledge of how Trump was likely to react, insisting that the bloc had the “sovereign right” to regulate US tech companies in its own jurisdiction and that the timing of the fine was not connected to tariffs. 欧盟的一位高级官员表示，他们不知道特朗普会作何反应，并坚称欧盟有权在其管辖范围内监管美国科技公司，且此次罚款的时间点与关税无关。
Last year Apple and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta were fined under the DMA. Apple was told to pay €500m for anti-competitive practices at its app store and Meta was told to pay €200m in a ruling on its ad-free “consent or pay” proposal for Facebook and Instagram. 去年，苹果公司和马克·扎克伯格旗下的 Meta 公司也曾根据《数字市场法案》被罚。苹果因其应用商店的反竞争行为被罚 5 亿欧元，Meta 则因其针对 Facebook 和 Instagram 推出的无广告“同意或付费”方案被罚 2 亿欧元。
Google can appeal against the decision and ask for interim measures, including a request to suspend the measure. The search company’s president of global affairs, Kent Walker, described the fine as “product degradation driven by a small group of self-serving complainants” that will have a negative impact on European businesses and consumers. 谷歌可以对该决定提出上诉，并申请临时措施，包括请求暂停执行该决定。谷歌全球事务总裁肯特·沃克（Kent Walker）将此次罚款描述为“由一小撮自私的投诉者所驱动的产品降级”，并称这将对欧洲企业和消费者产生负面影响。
He argued that the DMA forces Google “to strip away real-time search features Europeans love – like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights, and restaurants – and dismantle safety protections on Google Play”. 他辩称，《数字市场法案》迫使谷歌“剥离欧洲人喜爱的实时搜索功能——例如酒店、航班和餐厅的即时价格和直接预订信息——并拆除 Google Play 上的安全保护措施”。