Google facing court hits
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Google has lost its legal battle with the European Commission over a 2.42 billion euro fine.
The case, which spanned seven years, centres on antitrust claims that the tech giant used its market dominance to unfairly favour its own comparison shopping service over those of its competitors.
In 2017, EU regulators fined Google after determining that the company had manipulated its search results by promoting its own shopping service while demoting rivals.
At the time, Margrethe Vestager, EU Competition Commissioner, said “Google's strategy for its comparison shopping service wasn't just about attracting customers by making its product better than those of its rivals”.
“Instead, Google abused its market dominance as a search engine by promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results, and demoting those of competitors,” she said.
Google challenged the ruling but lost its initial appeal in 2021, prompting the case to be heard by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
The company argued that it was being penalised for being a dominant player and that its improvements to search quality should not have been considered abusive.
However, the CJEU upheld the prior decision, stating that having a dominant position is permissible, but abusing that position to the detriment of competition is not.
“The conduct of undertakings in a dominant position that has the effect of hindering competition on the merits and is thus likely to cause harm to individual undertakings and consumers is prohibited,” the judges concluded.
The European Commission has preliminarily concluded that Google’s dominance in online advertising warrants further action, which could potentially lead to the forced divestment of certain parts of its business.
Over the past decade, Google has incurred a total of 8.25 billion euros in fines from EU antitrust regulators.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Google is confronting another antitrust battle, this time focused on its online advertising practices.
A trial began on 9 September in Alexandria, Virginia, where the US Department of Justice has accused Google of stifling competition in the online advertising market by controlling both the buyer and seller sides of the ad tech ecosystem.
Prosecutors argue that Google maintained its dominance through acquisitions, restricting competition and locking customers into its products.
According to Justice Department attorney Julia Tarver Wood, Google used its size to “crush competition” in the market.
Google’s lead attorney, Karen Dunn, countered these claims, asserting that the case is based on outdated practices from a time when Google was developing its ad tools, adding that the company now faces substantial competition from firms such as Amazon and Comcast.
If the US court finds Google guilty, remedies could include divesting parts of its ad tech business, such as Google Ad Manager, a platform used by publishers and advertisers.
The case is one of several that challenge the business practices of major tech companies, including recent rulings against Google's dominance in online search.