No second thoughts on appeal for Google. Big G will have to pay the fine of 2.4 billion euros (2.8 billion dollars) imposed by the European antitrust for alleged anti-competition actions against “minor” search engines specialized in online purchases.
EU court confirms fine of 2.4 billion euros
The General Court of the European Union found that Google had violated the competition rules and on Wednesday 9 November, discussing the appeal presented by the US company, confirmed the legitimacy of the sanction imposed by the European Commission in 2017.
In confirming the ruling, the European judges, however, found that regulators had failed to prove that Google had damaged the general search market, eliminating the finding of a violation by the EU, which would have led to an even higher fine. . The anti-competitive behavior therefore concerns only the field of search services for purchases.
The three moves by the EU to stem big-techs
The 2017 sanction was the first of a trio of decisions that form the centerpiece of European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s attempt to curb the growing dominance of big tech companies.
It later has Alphabet – the company that controls Google – for over € 8.2 billion in total and is still investigating the company’s suspected control over digital advertising. Wednesday’s ruling strengthens the EU’s crusade against the powers of the giants of advertising. technology that has encouraged other global antitrust regulators, including the United States.