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Online Search Engines Reach Agreement with US Authorities |
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Wednesday, December 26, 2007 |
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In a settlement reached with the US Department of Justice, three of the biggest search engines on the internet, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google, agreed to pay as much as $31.5-million in forfeitures and complimentary public-service advertising, for their role in promoting online gambling in the past ten years. In return, the three companies – who did not need to admit wrongdoing under the agreement – would not face prosecution under the various laws pertaining to online gambling in the country. Microsoft faced the highest fine and will need to fork out over $21-million. $4.5-million of this amount will go directly to the United States government and $7.5-million will be contributed to a worthy organization – the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Google and Yahoo! will pay significantly less, with totals of $3-million and $7.5-million respectively. Both Microsoft and Google agreed, in addition, to fund online campaigns to discourage underage gamblers and promote the law relating to online gambling.
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