Mubasher: The European Union hit Alphabet’s Google with another hefty fine, the third in a raft of billion-dollar penalties, for hampering competition.

The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, on Wednesday ordered Google to pay EUR 1.5 billion ($1.70 billion) for misusing its dominant presence in online search advertising.

The US tech titan “cemented its dominance” and “shielded itself from competitive pressure” through contractual restrictions on other websites, EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.

Google prevented its competitors from publishing advertisements on third party websites by imposing exclusivity terms in contracts of AdSense, the search engine giant’s product which acts as an intermediary between advertisers and website owners.

The misconduct lasted for ten years, Vestager said, adding that the amount of the fine reflects the duration.

It is worth noting that the Commission ordered the company to pay EUR 4.34 billion in July 2018 for pushing its applications on smartphone users, thwarting competition.

In addition, Google previously had to pay EUR 2.4 billion in fine for utilising its search engine to lead consumers to its own shopping platform.