Some of Google’s fiercest corporate¹ critics in the US have written to Europe’s antitrust chief backing what is expected to be a record fine against the internet search company, and rejecting claims that the case has been fuelled by anti-American bias².

美国一些对谷歌(Google)持最强烈批评态度的企业致信欧洲最高反垄断官员，支持对这家互联网搜索公司处以金额有望创纪录的罚款，并反驳了该案受到反美偏见推动的说法。

“As US companies, we wish to go on record that enforcement action against Google is necessary and appropriate, not provincial,” the seven signatories, including News Corp, Oracle³ and Yelp⁴, wrote.

在信上签名的7家企业——其中包括新闻集团(News Corp)、甲骨文(Oracle)和Yelp——写道：“作为美国企业，我们希望公开声明，对谷歌采取的执法行动是必要和适当的，不是地方保护主义。”

The attempt to dispel⁵ claims of European protectionism came ahead of the expected announcement on Tuesday of a fine topping 1bn against the US search company over an eight-year-old probe involving online shopping.

此举是对有关欧洲奉行贸易保护主义说法的反驳。预计，欧盟周二将宣布对谷歌处以逾10亿欧元罚款，这一处罚是基于一项长达8年的对在线购物问题的调查。

Signatories to the letter supporting the EU action include some of Google’s most bitter rivals. Oracle won a contentious⁶ copyright case against the search company last year, while News Corp has long railed against Google’s growing power over the media industry. Yelp has pushed — so far unsuccessfully — for Brussels to take up its own antitrust complaint against the company.

在上述信上签字支持欧盟处罚行动的，包括谷歌一些最激烈的竞争对手。甲骨文去年打赢了一场充满争议的、针对谷歌的版权官司，新闻集团则长期抨击谷歌对传媒产业日益增强的影响力。Yelp已推动欧盟接受它自己提出的针对谷歌的反垄断申诉，但迄今未获成功。

The case has threatened to ignite simmering unhappiness in Silicon⁷ Valley and Washington over Europe’s recent challenges to leading US tech companies. These last burst into the open a year ago when Apple fiercely criticised a 13.2bn fine levied⁸ over the special tax deal it had struck with Ireland.

该案可能会引爆硅谷和华盛顿方面对欧洲近期挑战美国顶尖高科技公司行为的不满。在硅谷和华盛顿，这种不满情绪已接近临界点。这种情绪上次公开爆发是在一年前。当时，苹果(Apple)猛烈抨击了因它与爱尔兰达成的特殊税务协议而受到的132亿欧元罚款。