It is one of two judicial victories this Tuesday in Brussels’ battle against big technology.
In a victory for the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the EU confirmed this Tuesday the record fine of 2.4 billion euros imposed on Google for anti-competitive promotion of its Shopping service.
This is one of the two victories of Margrethe VestagerEU antitrust chief, in her battle against big tech. This same Tuesday, the judges have also ruled in favor in a case worth 13,000 million euros related to the low taxes paid by Apple in Ireland.
In 2017, the Commission accused Google to favor the results of its own price comparison service, Google Shopping, in search results, harming competitors. The company and its parent company Alphabet were ordered to pay a fine that was, at the time, the largest ever imposed by the Commission in antitrust issues.
Google failed in its attempt to appeal the decision to the General Court of the EU, before appealing to the (higher) Court of Justice of the EU. “In light of the characteristics of the market and the specific circumstances of the case, Google’s conduct was discriminatory and did not fall within the scope of competition on the merits,” the judges declared, dismissing the appeal from Google and its parent company Alphabet.
Google rewarded its own products
Google first presented the search results of its product comparator, highlighting them with attractive visual and textual information, while rival options appeared below like a link, he assured the Commission.
The ruling confirms an opinionadvisory opinion of Juliane Kokott, one of the Court’s general counsels, who said in January that the fine had to be maintained.” Google “took advantage of its dominant position in the market for general search services to favor its own price comparison service,” Kokott’s non-binding opinion said.
Google’s defeat is a victory for Vestagerwho will end her mandate as EU Competition Commissioner when a new college takes office at the end of this year.
In a reaction, Agustín Reyna, general director of consumer group BEUC, said he welcomes the decision, calling it “crucial importance for European consumers.”
“The Court has confirmed that Google cannot unfairly deny European consumers access to complete and impartial online information about where to get the best deals,” Reyna said.
