Google has won an important victory by winning an appeal against a €1.5 billion fine imposed by the European Commission, a favorable outcome for the tech giant, which is facing increasing scrutiny from Brussels regulators.
On Wednesday, the EU’s General Court said that while it agreed with most of the Commission’s assessments of the company’s use of its dominant position to harm competing online advertisers, it had decided to overturn the severe fine imposed on Google in this case.
In 2019, Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s competition commissioner, launched an action against Google, alleging that the search giant had imposed anti-competitive restrictions on third-party websites for a decade, between 2006 and 2016. It justified the €1.5 billion fine, saying that it reflected the “serious and sustained nature” of the infringement.
However, the Luxembourg-based General Court concluded that the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, did not consider all the relevant circumstances when assessing the duration of the contractual clauses it deemed unfair.
The Commission, which is likely to appeal, said it had “taken note” of the judgment and would “carefully study the decision and reflect on possible next steps”.
Google commented: “This case concerns a very narrow subset of text-only search ads, served on a limited number of publisher sites. We made changes to our contracts in 2016 to remove the relevant provisions, even before the Commission’s decision. We are pleased that the court recognized errors in the original decision and overturned the fine. We will analyze the full decision carefully.”
The case in question is one of three that the EU has brought against Google in recent years, resulting in total fines of around €8.25 billion. Critics argue that the online advertising market has been stifled by the tech giant, and that antitrust actions have been slow and ineffective.
Wednesday’s ruling comes after a significant victory for the European Commission in a separate case, in which the European Court of Justice ruled that Google abused its market power by prioritizing its own shopping services over competitors. In that case, the EU’s highest court upheld a €2.4 billion fine against the company.
Brussels is still investigating Google for its dominance in the ad tech market. Last year, the Commission threatened to split up the company, considering this the only viable solution to resolve competition concerns. Sources close to the case say that the EU is still deliberating on this threat and on the possibility of imposing new fines on Google.
Margrethe Vestager, who will leave her post as antitrust authority in the coming weeks, has accused the tech giants of failing to comply with EU rules. In a recent interview with the Financial Times, she said: “I’ve had not one, not two, not three, but I’m on my fourth case against Google. It’s thought-provoking that those who have managed to enter the market still feel they don’t have to compete on the merits.”