According to the parent company Alphabet’s financial report, last year Google paid a total of more money as a fine to the EU than Google paid in taxes worldwide. While the Group’s tax burden last year was 4.2 billion US dollars, fines to the EU totalled 5.1 billion US dollars.
The data were collected by the IT magazine Computing, which referred to Alphabet’s financial report. This report also showed that Alphabet’s turnover last year was $136.8 billion. At around 135 billion US dollars, Google made the lion’s share of the money. The level of fines rose considerably compared with the previous year. In 2017, Google paid a total of $2.7 billion in fines to the EU.
Last year, the EU Commission imposed several heavy fines. Particularly drastic was the record fine of 4.34 billion euros imposed on Google in the summer, as the company exploited its dominant market position according to the EU. Specifically, illegal restrictions related to Google’s Android operating system have been criticized.
Google will not be spared fines this year either: The French data protection authority has already obliged Google to pay a fine of 50 million euros for violations of the DSGVO. However, Google has already announced its intention to defend itself against the punishment.
