Google loses antitrust battle with EU as court upholds 2017 order to pay $2.8 billion fine

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The European Union flag is seen with Google’s logo.

Jaap Arriens | NurPhoto | Getty Images

The EU’s General Court ruled Wednesday that the European Commission was right in fining Google for an antirust breach — in what represents a landmark moment for EU policy which could impact the business models of major tech players.

The ruling comes after the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said in 2017 that Google had favored its own comparison shopping services and fined the company 2.42 billion euros ($2.8 billion) for breaching antitrust rules. Alphabet-unit Google contested the claims using the EU’s second-highest court.

“The General Court finds that, by favoring its own comparison shopping service on its general results pages through more favorable display and positioning, while relegating the results from competing comparison services in those pages by means of ranking algorithms, Google departed from competition on the merits,” the court said in a press release Wednesday.

In addition, the court also confirmed the fine at 2.42 billion euros. “The General Court concludes its analysis by finding that the amount of the pecuniary penalty imposed on Google must be confirmed,” the court added.

Wednesday’s verdict can be appealed and taken to the EU’s highest court. The European Commission and Google were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC on Wednesday.

The legal precedent

This is not the first time that the EU’s General Court has ruled on an antirust case brought by the European Commission and directed at a tech giant.

The chamber ruled in July 2020 that the commission had failed to prove that the Irish government had given a tax advantage to Apple — this was after the Brussels-based institution ordered the Republic of Ireland to recoup 13 billion euros from the iPhone maker in 2016.

Impact for Big Tech?

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