Google loses final EU court appeal against 2.4 billion euro fine in
antitrust shopping case
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[October 09, 2024] By
KELVIN CHAN
LONDON (AP) — Google lost its final legal challenge on Tuesday against a
European Union penalty for giving its own shopping recommendations an
illegal advantage over rivals in search results, ending a long-running
antitrust case that came with a whopping fine.
The European Union’s Court of Justice upheld a lower court’s decision,
rejecting the company’s appeal against the 2.4 billion euro ($2.7
billion) penalty from the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s top
antitrust enforcer.
"By today’s judgment, the Court of Justice dismisses the appeal and thus
upholds the judgment of the General Court," the court said in a press
release summarizing its decision.
The commission punished the Silicon Valley giant in 2017 for unfairly
directing visitors to its own Google Shopping service to the detriment
of competitors. It was one of three multibillion-euro fines that the
commission imposed on Google in the previous decade as Brussels started
ramping up its crackdown on the tech industry.
“We are disappointed with the decision of the Court, which relates to a
very specific set of facts,” Google said in a brief statement.
The company said it made changes in 2017 to comply with the commission’s
decision requiring it to treat competitors equally. It started holding
auctions for shopping search listings that it would bid for alongside
other comparison shopping services.
“Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years,
generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping
services,” Google said.
At the same time, the company appealed the decision to the courts. But
the EU General Court, the tribunal's lower section, rejected its
challenge in 2021 and the Court of Justice’s adviser later recommended
rejecting the appeal.
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European consumer group BEUC hailed
the court's decision, saying it shows how the bloc's competition law
“remains highly relevant" in digital markets.
"Google harmed millions of European consumers by
ensuring that rival comparison shopping services were virtually
invisible," director general Agustín Reyna said. “Google’s illegal
practices prevented consumers from accessing potentially cheaper
prices and useful product information from rival comparison shopping
services on all sorts of products, from clothes to washing
machines.”
Google is still appealing the other two EU antitrust penalties,
which involved its Android mobile operating system and AdSense
advertising platform. The company was dealt a setback in the Android
case when the EU General Court upheld the commission's 4.125 billion
euro fine in a 2022 decision. Its initial appeal against a 1.49
billion euro fine in the AdSense case has yet to be decided.
Those three cases foreshadowed expanded efforts by regulators
worldwide to crack down on the tech industry. The EU has since
opened more investigations into Big Tech companies and drafted new
laws to clean up social media platforms and regulate artificial
intelligence.
Google is now facing particular pressure over its lucrative digital
advertising business. In a federal antitrust trial that began
Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice is alleging the company holds
a monopoly in the “ad tech” industry.
British competition regulators accused Google last week of abusing
its dominance in ad tech while the EU is carrying out its own
investigation.
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