This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. Today, the European Commission has started two sets of specification proceedings to assist Google in complying with its obligations under the Digital Markets Act (‘DMA’). The specification proceedings formalise the Commission’s regulatory dialogue with Google on certain areas of its compliance with two DMA […]Commission opens proceedings to assist Google in complying with interoperability and online search data sharing obligations under the Digital Markets Act
January 27, 2026 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. Today, the European Commission has started two sets of specification proceedings to assist Google in complying with its obligations under the Digital Markets Act (‘DMA’). The specification proceedings formalise the Commission’s regulatory dialogue with Google on certain areas of its compliance with two DMA […]Commission opens investigation into potential Digital Markets Act breach by Google in demoting media publishers’ content in search results
November 14, 2025 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. Today, the European Commission has formally launched proceedings to assess whether Google applies fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory conditions of access to publishers’ websites on Google Search, which is an obligation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The Commission’s monitoring work has shown indications that […]Commission fines Google €2.95 billion over abusive practices in online advertising technology
September 8, 2025 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The European Commission has fined Google €2.95 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in the advertising technology industry (‘adtech’). It did so by favouring its own online display advertising technology services to the detriment of competing providers of advertising technology services, […]Remarks by Executive Vice-President Vestager following the Court of Justice rulings on the Apple tax State aid and Google Shopping antitrust cases
September 11, 2024 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. “Check against delivery” Today is a big win for European citizens and for tax justice. The Court of Justice confirms the decision from 2016 by the European Commission: Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland now has to recover. And this judgement is final. […]Google is deleting inactive accounts. Here’s why that’s a good thing
December 13, 2023 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: David Elliott, Senior Writer, Formative Content Google is deleting inactive accounts to enhance cyber resilience.Unused accounts pose a significant security risk, making them vulnerable to cyber threats.The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023 put cybercrime and cyber […]Mergers: Commission clears acquisition of Photomath by Google
March 29, 2023 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The European Commission has approved unconditionally, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Photomath, Inc. (‘Photomath’) by Google LLC (‘Google’). The Commission concluded that the transaction would raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’). Google is a technology company […]Consumer protection: Google commits to give consumers clearer and more accurate information to comply with EU rules
January 26, 2023 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. Have you ever struggled to understand whether you were buying directly from Google or from a different brand, or had difficulty finding information about final costs? In order to further align its practices with EU law – mainly on lack of transparency and clear […]A year of healing – here’s what our Google searches can teach us about 2021
December 28, 2021 by 1 Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Kayleigh Bateman, Senior Writer, Formative Content 2021’s most-searched included themes of reflection, healing and pulling together.Global searches for mental health reached the highest level ever.How to cure burnout was a breakout US search, meaning it increased at least […]Antitrust: Commission opens investigation into possible anticompetitive conduct by Google in the online advertising technology sector
June 23, 2021 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Google has violated EU competition rules by favouring its own online display advertising technology services in the so called “ad tech” supply chain, to the detriment of competing providers of advertising technology […]Google has invented a tool which allows you to hear colour
February 24, 2021 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Johnny Wood, Senior Writer, Formative Content A machine learning system lets visitors to a new art exhibition experience the sounds of colours through the artist Kandinsky’s eyes.The abstract art pioneer had synaesthesia, a condition that can make people […]Mergers: Commission clears acquisition of Fitbit by Google, subject to conditions
December 18, 2020 by 1 Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of Fitbit by Google. The approval is conditional on full compliance with a commitments package offered by Google. Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “We can approve the […]How Google is fighting fire with real-time mapping data
August 24, 2020 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Sean Fleming, Senior Writer, Formative Content Some of the worst wildfires in California’s history have killed at least six people.Wildfires can move at up to 22 kilometres per hour and are unpredictable.Google has added satellite data to its […]
Mergers: Commission opens in-depth investigation into the proposed acquisition of Fitbit by Google
August 5, 2020 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess the proposed acquisition of Fitbit by Google under the EU Merger Regulation. The Commission is concerned that the proposed transaction would further entrench Google’s market position in the online advertising markets by increasing the […]International trade statistics: trends in first quarter 2019
May 29, 2019 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you in association with OECD. Growth in G20 international merchandise trade, seasonally adjusted and expressed in current US dollars, remained weak in the first quarter of 2019. G20 exports rose marginally by 0.4% quarter‑on‑quarter while imports fell by 1.2%. Compared to the third quarter of 2018, when the first round of new tariff measures affecting US-China trade […]European Elections: “Web giants” are urging users to vote
May 24, 2019 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament. Social media platforms and web services, used by millions of Europeans, have joined the effort to remind citizens to cast their votes in European elections. Facebook, Google, Snapchat and Twitter are among the platforms offering extra services to make sure Europeans cast their vote, […]EU elections update: Can the EU voters vote unaffected from fake news and online disinformation?
May 24, 2019 by Leave a Comment
EU elections already kicked off yesterday in the UK and the Netherlands with several EU citizens abstaining in Britain due to clerical errors by local councils. The old continent is now following the EU elections closely, worrying about the effect of fake news and growth of far-right parties. The EC published last week various reports concerning […]The 5 things you need to make your teams more effective, according to Google
April 17, 2019 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Douglas Broom, Senior Writer, Formative Content What makes a great team? Four years ago, Google announced it had the answer. The tech giant said its research showed personality types were not as important as setting a clear framework to […]EU Copyright Directive: Will US tech giants comply or ditch the EU market?
March 27, 2019 by Leave a Comment
The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) approved yesterday the new Copyright Directive by 348 votes in favour, 274 against and 36 abstentions. Should the member states accept this vote, the reforms will be effective immediately and EU countries will have two years to implement them. The copyright changes will affect mainly big online platforms […]Antitrust: Commission fines Google €1.49 billion for abusive practices in online advertising
March 21, 2019 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The European Commission has fined Google €1.49 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules. Google has abused its market dominance by imposing a number of restrictive clauses in contracts with third-party websites which prevented Google’s rivals from placing their search adverts on these websites. Commissioner […]EU elections: Can EU citizens’ awareness eradicate fake news more efficiently than Facebook, Twitter and Google?
March 6, 2019 by 2 Comments
Last Thursday, the European Commission published the reports of Facebook, Google and Twitter regarding the progress made in January in their voluntary pledges to tackle disinformation. Disinformation is a major challenge globally and for Europe and all stakeholders have to be actively involved in order to address citizens’ exposure to it. However, the US tech […]EU Copyright Directive: Google News threatens to leave Europe while media startups increasingly worry
January 23, 2019 by 1 Comment
The European Copyright Directive negotiation meeting, which was supposed to take place last Monday regarding the finalization of Article 13 and Article 11, was cancelled due to the fact that eleven out of 28 EU countries voted against the text. The text is expected to be altered by the Romanian Council presidency in order to […]The EU sides with China against the US; but has Germany capitulated to America?
July 23, 2018 by 3 Comments
If billions of EU penalties on American icon companies and U.S. super tariffs on European cars are strong and aggressive trade weapons, then yes the EU and the U.S. are at all out economic war. As in all wars, the difficult or even impossible thing is to predict its end. Unavoidably, there will be victims […]Antitrust: Commission fines Google €4.34 billion for illegal practices regarding Android mobile devices to strengthen dominance of Google’s search engine
July 19, 2018 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The European Commission has fined Google €4.34 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules. Since 2011, Google has imposed illegal restrictions on Android device manufacturers and mobile network operators to cement its dominant position in general internet search. Google must now bring the conduct effectively […]Brussels Vs. Google: The €1 bn EU fine and the US response
June 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission is about to impose more than one billion euros fine to Google as a result of online shopping service search abuse according to the Financial Times. If the above is implemented, it would be the highest penalty in the history of anti-competitive behavior after Intel’s case in 2009. The repercussions for Google, […]Trump’s denial of Paris climate agreement; the US Republicans lash out against the world
June 5, 2017 by 1 Comment
Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the UN Paris Climate Agreement is a major foreign policy step, rather difficult to understand. For one thing, the American environmental industry technologically spearheads the world in this domain. The US is a global leader in electric vehicles production, where mainstream vehicles are one of the major contributors to air pollution. […]Vestager vs. Google: a fight to ensure a competitive innovation framework
April 19, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The EU Consumer and Competition Day took place yesterday in Amsterdam with Margrethe Vestager to reveal her will to charge Google for exploiting consumers by pre-installing Android apps on their smartphones. European Commission (EC) is showing its teeth once again, after Microsoft antitrust case a decade ago, against giant tech companies which are finding ways […]On Google antitrust case: “Let’s face it, some companies want to hurt Google and it goes as simple as that”
April 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
After 5 long lingering years a bit of light will be cast on Google’s antitrust case in Europe. Former Commissioner Joaquin Almunia for Competition failed to resolve the matter successfully during his term, going back and forth numerous times. Like a modern Pontius Pilate who “washed his hands”, the Spanish politician, who launched the Google investigation back […]“Hasta la vista” Google says to Spain and now Europe is next?
December 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
“But sadly, as a result of a new Spanish law, we’ll shortly have to close Google News in Spain. Let me explain why. This new legislation requires every Spanish publication to charge services like Google News for showing even the smallest snippet from their publications, whether they want to or not. As Google News itself makes […]EU to Google: How to dismantle European search engines in 13 steps
December 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
It seems that the search engine thriller that we are watching with horror in the Old Continent goes on. Last week the Sting reported on how parliamentarians were planning to “break up with reality in the Google antitrust case”. This week we are counting the votes and the list of “guidelines” to Google and all […]Parlamentarians to “break up” with reality in the Google antitrust case
November 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment
How many years can an antitrust case endure in the EU? It certainly depends on many factors but in the case of Google 4 is the minimum. This is because the topic of a ‘digital monopoly’ of a search engine is so refined and sophisticated that for the majority of EU stakeholders it is “terra incognita”. Also […]Search Engine neutrality in Europe in danger: Are 160.000 Google filtering requests good enough?
November 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The long awaited last public discussion about “the right to be forgotten” took place in Brussels yesterday. This was the last of the seven miracles or otherwise open forums in different European cities that the Californian giant has been organising since last May. The reason for these costly events was to engage civic society in […]Google’s hot summer never ends: EC to launch ANOTHER antitrust inquiry against the American giant
August 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
We must admit it: this is not exactly a quiet summer for Google. Not in the Old Continent at least. After the “Right To Be Forgotten” case has disturbed Google’s top management’s sleep recently, a new dark cloud may come soon. According to Reuters, the Mountain View, California-based company may soon face a new probe […]Look Mom, even the House of Lords says the #righttobeforgotten is not right
July 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The relation between the UK and the EU is like that passionate thing usually developped between a cat and a dog. Historically since the very beginning of this love and hate affair in 1973, when London realized that the European project is a ‘good’ one, the UK always seeked to receive special attention, reminding to […]
