Google is being punished for favoring its own product comparison service over competitors.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the court of last instance, on Tuesday upheld the €2.4 billion fine imposed on Google in 2017 for anti-competitive practices.
The European Court of Justice has thus validated the fine imposed by the European Commission on Google for “having abused its dominant position by favouring its own product comparison service”. This is the second heaviest financial penalty ever imposed by the EU in an antitrust case.
Google Shopping favored
Google is accused of favoring its price comparison service Google Shopping by making its competitors virtually invisible to consumers. It has been forced to change the way its search results are displayed to comply with European Union requirements.
Seized by the Californian giant, the EU General Court ruled in favor of the Commission, in an initial judgment delivered in November 2021. But Google filed a new appeal, demanding the cancellation of the fine.
Advocate General Juliane Kokott had proposed in January to confirm the sanction. The case began in 2010 with the opening of an investigation by Brussels following complaints from competitors.
This case is one of the major disputes opened by Brussels against Google, which holds the record for the two largest fines ever imposed by the European executive for anti-competitive practices.
The $2.4 billion fine for Google Shopping was a record amount at the time it was handed down. It was surpassed in 2018 by another $4.3 billion fine for abuse of a dominant position by the Android operating system for mobile phones.
In total, Google has been fined more than 8 billion euros for various antitrust violations. The group is also in the crosshairs in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Since Monday, it has been facing its second major trial in less than a year against the US government, which accuses it of stifling competition in online advertising. On Friday, the British competition authority, the CMA, also accused Google of abusing its dominant position in the same advertising market, which represents its main source of revenue.
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