The European Union’s Court of Justice (ECJ) has dismissed Google’s appeal to overturn the €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) fine the tech behemoth was slapped with, after abusing its dominant position.
After seven years of legal battles, Google and its controlling company Alphabet has lost a legal battle with the European Commission, EU‘s legislative body.
Back in 2017, the Commission fined Google for “having abused its dominant position in several national online search markets by favoring its own comparison shopping service over those of its competitors.”
European authorities claim to have found that Google had given preference on its general search results, to the results of its competitors in 13 European Economic Area (EEA) member states.
“By decision of 27th June 2017 1 , the Commission found that, in 13 countries of the European Economic Area (EEA) 2 , Google had given preference, on its general search results pages, to the results of its own comparison shopping service over those of competing comparison shopping services,” ECJ said.
The court added that Google positioned its own comparison shopping service in a primary position and promoted them in “boxes” with attractive image information, while competitors’ comparison shopping services were displayed as generic results.
Google tried to appeal the decision with the EU’s General Court and the ECJ, with both rejecting the appeals.
“After the General Court essentially upheld that decision and maintained that fine, Google and Alphabet lodged an appeal before the Court of Justice, which dismisses that appeal and thus upholds the judgment of the General Court,” the ECJ said.
According to ECJ, EU law does not sanction the existence of a dominant position but rather its abusive exploitation.
The Commission’s fine applies to both Google and Alphabet, as the latter is the sole shareholder of the former. Google was slapped with a fine of over €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion), while its parent company received another €523 million ($577 million).
According to Reuters, Google voiced disappointment with the ruling.
“This judgment relates to a very specific set of facts. We made changes back in 2017 to comply with the European Commission's decision,” the company’s spokesperson said.
Upholding Google’s fine is the second major antitrust ruling from the ECJ in one day. The court also decided that Ireland provided Apple with illegal tax benefits worth €13 billion ($14.35 billion), which Apple has to pay back.
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