Top EU Court Upholds $2.7B Antitrust Fine on Google

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Facts

• The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Wednesday upheld a 2017 European Commission decision to fine Google €2.42B ($2.7B) for abusive market dominance.^[1]
• In its ruling, which can't be appealed, the ECJ said Google's method of favoring its shopping search results over rivals' 'was discriminatory.'^[2]
• The ECJ announced that the action was part of its goal of prohibiting firms from causing 'harm to individual undertakings and consumers' and claimed that it had sanctioned Google for abusing their dominant position.^[3]
• In its appeal against the fine, Google maintained that it had adjusted its policy to comply with the 2017 decision, which it said generated 'billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services.'^[1]
• In 2021, the EU's General Court also upheld the European Commission's fine, ruling that Google had 'departed from competition on the merits.'^[4]
• Google has appealed two other antitrust penalties in Europe: a €1.49B ($1.7B) fine in the AdSense advertising platform case and €4.125B ($4.6B) in the Android operating system case.^[5][6]

Sources: ^[1]BBC News, ^[2]POLITICO, ^[3]Reuters, ^[4]CNBC, ^[5]Time and ^[6]New York Times.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Reuters. Google needed to be penalized for abusing its market dominance. The European Commission fine was necessary to address the tech giant's unfair practices. This ruling will reinforce the importance of holding Google accountable and protecting consumers, as well as its smaller rivals.
• Narrative B, as provided by Electronics Weekly. This €2.4B fine is an error. Google can direct millions of users to locations across the internet because it has an index of more than 1B web pages. Its dominant market position isn't a result of illegal practice aimed at stifling competition, but a product of innovation and reflective of the quality of its services.

Predictions