(BGR) -- European regulators are expected to hit Google with a multibillion fine on Tuesday or Wednesday, an announcement that’s being closely watched not because of the anticipated size of the penalty — Google basically prints money at this point, so it will be able to easily absorb the blow. What’s really at stake is whether the EU uses the fine to force changes in the way the search giant does business.
The penalty coming this week is a product of Google’s longstanding policy of requiring Android device makers to set Google’s own search and web browsers as the default offerings. European regulators could fine Google as much as $11 billion if they wanted to, but while the fine is not expected to be that high, it is expected to top last year’s $2.72 billion antitrust penalty against Google for unfairly ranking its comparison-shopping service over similar offerings from rivals in search results.