For over a year, Google has been the subject of an investigation by the European Commission relating to accusations of anti-competitive practices. Now, there’s word that the company is about to be hit with a likely hefty fine as the Commission prepares to share its findings and administer sanctions.
Companies found to have breached antitrust rules in the European Union can be made to pay a penalty equal to 10 percent of its global turnover, according to a report from Reuters. As a result, Google could in theory be required to pay as much as $9 billion based on its financial performance in 2016.
The European Commission has been looking into this matter for seven years. The investigation was prompted by complaints from rival search engines in the U.S. and Europe, who claimed that Google distorts its search results to give an unfair advantage to its own shopping services.
As well as the fine, it’s likely that the Commission will force Google to modify its practices, although it’s not entirely clear how this action will play out. It’s possible that best practices could be laid out in broad strokes, but there’s also a chance that specific directions could be put in place for the company to adhere to.
Google has previously made three attempts to settle the matter, all of which were unsuccessful. At this point, it seems that the writing is on the wall, and a final ruling is set to be made public before the European Commission’s summer recess, which is scheduled to begin in August.
If Google is found to be guilty of wrongdoing, the decision could have an impact on two other accusations of anti-competitive practices. The company is also being investigated for pursuing an unfair monopoly in relation to both its Android operating system and its AdSense advertising program.
ASUS has started selling its UGen Intel Arc Pro B70 graphics card in Europe, bringing its take on Intel’s workstation GPU to customers with a hefty €1,799 recommended price. The card is available in Germany and Austria, while ASUS lists it at CHF 1,799 in Switzerland.
Intel first introduced the Arc Pro B70 in March 2026, with its own branded model starting at $949. ASUS’s version arrives several months later with the same core GPU architecture but a different cooling design and a higher power rating. The price also places it well above Intel’s original starting point, although the two prices are not directly comparable because ASUS’s European figure includes VAT.
Anthropic has officially filed to go public, and buried inside its S-1 is a blunt warning about the technology at the center of its business. The maker of Claude AI says advanced AI could cause everything from large-scale cyberattacks and geopolitical instability to catastrophic or even existential risks for humanity.
The warnings take up a surprisingly large part of the filing. Axios notes that more than 90 pages, or roughly a third of the prospectus, focus on risk factors. Many of them warn about what could happen as AI systems become more capable and autonomous.
AI giants have a growing autonomy problem on their hands. A new Axios report has revealed that Anthropic's Claude recently accessed publicly available Georgia vote count without human authorization, sparking fresh concerns about AI security ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.