Google fined record 2.42 billion euros for breaching antitrust rules

Internet giant Google has been fined a record Euro 2.4 billion ($2.72 billion) by the European Union's competition watchdog for breaching antitrust rules with its Google Shopping service.

"Google has abused its market dominance as a search engine by giving an illegal advantage to another Google product, its comparison shopping service," European regulators said.

According to an AP report, the regulators gave the company 90 days to stop or face fines of up to 5 percent of the average daily worldwide turnover of parent company Alphabet.

The EU competition authority accused Google in April 2015 of distorting internet search results to favour its shopping service, harming both rivals and consumers.

The US company has in the past rejected the charges, saying that regulators ignored competition from online retailers Amazon and eBay Inc.

Google made three unsuccessful attempts to settle the case with the previous European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia in a bid to stave off a possible fine and a finding of wrongdoing.