Google faces another test in EU court over 1.5-bn euro fine

Google faces another test in EU court over 1.5-bn euro fine

The European Commission, the EU's powerful antitrust regulator, hit Google with the 1.49-billion euro fine in 2019
The European Commission, the EU's powerful antitrust regulator, hit Google with the 1.49-billion euro fine in 2019. Photo: Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP/File
Source: AFP

Don't miss out! Get your daily dose of sports news straight to your phone. Join YEN's Sports News channel on WhatsApp now!

An EU court will rule on Wednesday on Google's appeal of a 1.49-billion euro ($1.65 billion) fine from the European Union, a week after the US tech giant suffered a stinging legal defeat over a bigger penalty.

Regulators worldwide are turning up the heat on Google parent Alphabet with trials and probes into one of the world's most valuable companies.

Brussels scored a victory last week when the EU's highest court in Luxembourg upheld a 2017 fine worth 2.42 billion euros against Google, for abusing its dominant position by favouring its own comparison shopping service.

Leading the way forward in targeting big tech abuses, the European Commission slapped Google with fines worth a total of 8.2 billion euros between 2017 and 2019 over antitrust violations.

At stake on Wednesday is the third of those fines, worth 1.49 billion euros, which the EU's powerful antitrust regulator imposed after finding that Google abused its dominance via its AdSense advertising service.

Read also

Boeing, union resume talks as strike empties Seattle plants

The Luxembourg-based General Court will publish its decision on Google's appeal against the fine after 0730 GMT.

Google asked the court to annul -- in full or partially -- the commission's decision and/or annul or cut the fine.

The long-running legal battles between Google and the EU do not end there.

EU's greater powers

Google is also challenging a 4.3-billion-euro penalty Brussels levied on it for putting restrictions on Android smartphones to boost its internet search business.

The 2018 fine remains the EU's largest-ever antitrust penalty.

The General Court in 2022 slightly reduced the fine to 4.1 billion euros, but mainly supported the commission's argument that Google had imposed illegal restrictions.

The legal saga continues in that case after Google appealed the latest decision before the higher European Court of Justice.

Read also

Chinese appliance maker Midea soars in Hong Kong after US$4 bn IPO

The EU has since armed itself with a more powerful legal weapon known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), to rein in the world's biggest tech companies, including Google.

Rather than regulators discovering egregious antitrust violations after probes lasting many years, the DMA gives businesses a list of what they can and cannot do online.

The aim is that tech titans change their ways before the need for deterrent fines.

Google is already the subject of one investigation under the DMA alongside Facebook owner Meta and Apple.

Mounting problems

Google is in the US regulators' crosshairs as well.

Last week, the tech titan faced its second major antitrust trial in less than a year with the US government accusing Google of a monopoly in ad technology -- the complex system determining which online ads people see and their cost.

It comes after a US judge in August found Google's search business to be an illegal monopoly, a ruling which threatens a possible break-up for the tech behemoth.

Read also

TikTok battles US ban threat in court

Ad tech is at the centre of multiple probes by regulators around the world.

British regulators earlier this month said in provisional findings that Google abused its dominance in the market.

The EU similarly concluded last year that Google is distorting competition in the market and recommended that the company be forced to divest its ad tech business.

Google has the right to respond in the British and EU cases before the regulators reach final conclusions.

Alphabet in July said revenue from online ad searches climbed to $48.5 billion in the second quarter of this year.

New feature: Сheck out news that is picked for YOU ➡️ click on “Recommended for you” and enjoy!

Source: AFP

Authors:
AFP avatar

AFP AFP text, photo, graphic, audio or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer or otherwise except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service, AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, videos, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP material. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP material.