Google’s EU Antitrust Case Dropped
It turns out Google has won its challenge against a €1.49bn (£1.26bn) fine from the EU for blocking rival online search advertisers. The action is related to Google's AdSense product which deliver advertising to websites.
The EU Commission had claimed that between 2006 and 2016 Google abused its market dominance by inserting exclusivity clauses in its contracts with third-party websites to prevent these sites running ads sold by any service other than AdSense.
The rulings underscore outgoing EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager’s mixed record in defending her crackdown on Big Tech in court. She scored two major wins last week against Alphabet unit Google in a separate case and against Apple’s tax deal with Irish authorities. Europe's second-top court ruled the European Commission - which levied the fine - "committed errors in its assessment".
The Commission said it would "reflect on possible next steps", which could include an appeal to the EU's top court.
Google welcomed the ruling: "We are pleased that the court has recognised errors in the original decision and annulled the fine," it said in a statement. "We will review the full decision closely," it added.
The is an unexpected ruling for Google which was hit with fines worth a total of 8.2 billion euros between 2017 and 2019 over antitrust violations.
However, it is not only in the EU where it is under pressure over its highly lucrative online advertising business.
- Recently, the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said Google was using anti-competitive practices to control the market.
- The US is also taking Google to court over the same issue, with prosecutors alleging its parent company, Alphabet, illegally operates a monopoly in the market. Alphabet has argued its market dominance is due to the effectiveness of its products. This case revolved around Google's AdSense product, which delivers advertising to websites.
The EU's General Court upheld the majority of the Commission’s findings, but stopped the decision by which the Commission imposed the fine.
Law.com | BBC | BusinessLive | Computing | AOL | Guardian | Tech Digest
Image: Ideogram
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