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The finance ministers of France, Germany, Italy and Spain have written a joint letter to the European Union’s presidency and Commission calling for taxes on tech giants’ revenues, not just their profits. The four nations want the Commission to produce an "equalization tax" that would make companies pay the equivalent of the corporate tax in the countries where they earn revenue.

France is leading a push to clamp down on the taxation of such companies, but has found support from other countries also frustrated at the low tax they receive under current international rules.

Alphabet reported a 21% jump in quarterly revenue on Monday, maintaining a growth rate that is rarely seen among companies its size and suggesting the big sales gains enjoyed recently […]

Google emerged on Wednesday as the victor in its latest legal battle in Europe, after a French court said the technology behemoth did not have to pay $1.3 billion in back taxes.

At issue was whether Google had avoided taxes in France by routing sales in the country through an Irish-based subsidiary over a five-year period ending in 2010.

Google has been fined a record €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) after EU antitrust regulators concluded the first stage of their three-pronged probe into the world’s most popular search engine.

The fine, which targets the company’s shopping business, is the largest doled out by Brussels for a monopoly abuse case and came after a seven-year long investigation prompted by scores of complaints from rivals such as U.S. consumer review website Yelp, TripAdvisor, UK price comparison site Foundem, News Corp and lobbying group FairSearch.

European’s regulators are expected to hit Google with a minimum one billion euro fine this summer for anti-competitive practices that also means Google will also have to alter its business practices in Europe.

The repercussions pertain to allegations Google favors its own shopping service in search results, but it could have ramifications beyond the Google Shopping feature. Google already faces other outstanding antitrust cases in Europe.

Google has agreed to pay the internal revenue agency €306 million in taxes, sources said Thursday. The Mountain View-based company has been under investigation by Milan prosecutors for the tax years 2009-2013, one of several European probes looking into the tax practices of international companies.

A Google spokesman said the deal "resolved without disputes investigations relating to the period between 2002 and 2015". He said "in addition to the taxes already paid in Italy for those years, Google will pay another 306 million euros." Of these, "over 303 million are attributed to Google Italy and less than three million to Google Ireland." The spokesman said Google "confirms its commitment towards Italy and will continue to help the country’s online ecosystem grow".

Google has launched a new feature on Search and News which shows a "Fact Check" label for certain links, indicating whether a third-party fact-checking organization has found the story factual or not.

In October, the search giant introduced the fact check label for Google News in a few countries. But now the company is expanding use of the tag to search, as well as Google News in every other country where it’s available.

Concerts, museums, surgical theatres: all have in common one thing, the use or potential use of virtual or augmented reality. More and more companies in all fields are studying how to use this technology, with celebrities jumping on board like Buzz Aldrin, who created a version of himself in space to show everyone how to reach Mars.

Bands are using virtual reality to get in touch with their fans, who can now take part in concerts anywhere as long as both ends are equipped with the correct technology.