The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled Tuesday it will uphold a former ruling by the European Commission and levy a fine of €2.4 billion against Google with regard to Google Shopping, ending a years-long antitrust case against the tech giant.
The first fine announced in 2017 Google and Alphabet have appealed this ruling. The internet giant is being punished for abusing its dominant position in a number online search markets, favoring its shopping service over that of competitors.
Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president of the European Commission, called today’s decision a “landmark in the history” of regulatory actions taken against big tech.
“This case was symbolic, because it demonstrated even the most powerful technology companies could be held responsible. No one is above law. It inspired regulators to examine the activities of digital giants with greater scrutiny. The Google Shopping case created a precedent that led to other regulatory actions including the Digital Markets Act of the European Union.
This case was specifically about Google Shopping, and how Google gives its own price comparison service preferential treatment when it comes to search results.
“The Court of Justice reminds that EU laws do not sanction the mere existence of a dominating position, but rather the abusive exploitation of it,” Tuesday’s decision reads. “In particular the conduct of companies in a dominant situation that has the potential to harm individual businesses and consumers, is prohibited.”
Google issued a press release expressing its “disappointedness” at the decision. “This judgment relates only to a specific set of facts. We made changes back in 2017 to comply with the European Commission’s decision,” said Google. “Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services.”
Since several years, many leaders in travel technology have urged the European Commission to address Google’s dominance in the search market and limit the ability of their businesses to compete.
Trivago CEO Johannes Thomas responded to today’s ruling in a statement on LinkedIn. “For more that a decade, Google has used its power by self promoting its hotel search product. This practice has had a significant impact on our hotel search business, as Google prioritized their hotel services at top of search results. … We are glad to see this progress which is a clear signal demanding fair competition. We believe that fair competition is good for the global economy, the consumers and the society.
Google is fighting allegations of abuse of its dominance over digital advertising in a federal court in the United States this week. And this fine by the European Commission comes weeks after a United States district court judge ruled that Google had illegally used its market dominance to establish a search monopoly.
This story will be updated.
