French officials fine Google $2.2 million over incomplete search results

Google was fined $2.2 million by the French authorities on Tuesday over incomplete results in its search engine and app store.

The Competition, Consumer and Anti-Fraud Office said the US tech firm’s search enginefailedto provide adequate information concerning the ranking criteria of results.

It said that the results for searches on tourism accommodation lacked explanations for the prices.

The watchdog also said that the Google Play Store lacked information on the ranking criteria of results, payment information and dispute resolution procedures.

Additionally, the Google Play Store did not allow consumers to publish their reviews of apps in the store, the agency said.

The competition agency further said that Google has since "corrected part of the sanctioned shortcoming".

Responding to the charges, a Google spokesman expressed dissatisfaction with the order saying that the watchdog agency did not take the changes undertaken by the US tech giant into consideration, AFP news agency reported.

“We have always been transparent with our users about how our products work," the spokesman said, adding that it was open to working "constructively" with French and European regulators.

Not the first time

This is the second time that Google’s France unit was fined for providing misleading hotel rankings in its search engine.

In February 2021, Google France was fined 1.1 million euros after a probe found that Google's hotel rankings could be misleading for consumers.

The US tech giant had been applying its own algorithmic system of ratings for hotels via its search engine and on Google Maps.

This came after the French national competition and consumer watchdog DGCCRF initiated a probe in 2019 following a number of complaints by hoteliers against this propriety rating system.

The probe revealed that the tech giant had replaced the standard classification system of the public tourist board (Atout France) with a star rating system powered by its own criteria — and which it had applied to more than 7,500 establishments.

The DGCCRF concluded that Google had engaged in a deceptive business practice — and, with the public prosecutor, it proposed the sanction announced today on Google Ireland (the tech giant’s European HQ) and Google France.

(With inputs from agencies)

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