Google Pushes Back Against €2.4 Billion Antitrust Fine by European Union
The EU has fined a combined €8.3 billion from Google, including digital advertising and mobile OS operations.
- Google has appealed to the European Union’s highest court to challenge a massive €2.4 billion fine levied against it in 2017.
- The EU’s lower tribunal set the fine, supporting the European Commission’s claim that Google had violated antitrust regulations in the way it operates its shopping service.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google is making its final appeal against a massive €2.4 billion fine set against the company in 2017 by the European Commission (EC) for violating antitrust regulations. The appeal is being made at the Court of Justice of the EU, and Alphabet is looking to justify how it runs its shopping service after the general court dismissed Google’s challenge to the fine in 2021.
This was the first of three significant fines levied against the tech giant, accounting for over €8 billion. Google was also fined for antitrust violations related to its Android OS and the way it operates its digital advertising services.
The fines have resulted from the European Commission’s accusations that Google used its online search algorithms to prioritize its shopping service over its rivals. However, Google has refuted the allegations, calling it an overreach by the EC. It claims that using its platform to prioritize its own services over others should not count as an abuse of market rules.
Overall, the appeal is Google’s last effort not just to circumvent the fines but also to continue operating its shopping service in the way it has over the years.
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Google Settles Antitrust and Location Privacy Cases in the U.S.
Alphabet has introduced settlement claims with over 36 states in the U.S. for suits where states have claimed that Google abused its hold over Android apps through the Google Play app store. According to the plaintiffs, Google had inflated app prices on the Play Store and took a 30% cut from sales.
In addition, allegations have been made about using anti-competitive tactics to ensure that app developers were forced to use the app store to reach their users. No details about the settlement have been made available as yet. If the judge rejects the settlement, litigation is expected to continue in early October.
Google has also agreed to make a $93 million settlement with the state of California over its practices associated with user location privacy. This is in addition to another settlement of over $391 million that the company reached with over 40 states in 2022 over investigations regarding Google’s use of user locations, even after disabling the feature.
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