Google loses EU lawsuit, fined 24 billion euros

Google failed to overturn the European Union's €2.4 billion fine for its monopoly behavior.

On the morning of September 10th local time in Europe, the EU court announced that it upheld the lower court's ruling, imposing a €2.4 billion (US$2.6 billion) fine on Google to punish its abuse of monopoly power to suppress competitors. The final ruling means that Google can no longer appeal.

The case dates back to 2017 when the European Commission ruled that Google violated EU antitrust laws by displaying its own shopping services prominently in search engine results while demoting competitors. The €2.4 billion fine set a record for antitrust fines at that time.

A Google spokesperson expressed disappointment with the EU court's ruling, stating that the solution Google proposed to the EU in 2017 clearly helped other shopping services gain more clicks.

However, right after the EU court's decision, Google faces another lawsuit in the United States.

On Monday, September 9th, in the Eastern District of Virginia federal court, the second antitrust case against Google began. The Department of Justice accused Google of illegally controlling the software market for buying and selling digital ads, unfairly raising the prices for customers to advertise, resulting in less revenue for website creators and higher costs for ad clients.

Google's Multiple Violations of EU Antitrust Laws

The EU's antitrust enforcement agencies have not only focused on Google's dominant position in the search field. Over the past decade, antitrust enforcement agencies have conducted multiple investigations into Google and imposed fines totaling €8.25 billion in three cases. The shopping case mentioned above was the first round of fines.

Following the shopping case, in 2018, Google was fined €4.3 billion for allegedly imposing restrictions in its contract terms. These terms prohibited tablet and smartphone manufacturers from adding competitors' apps and web browsers to devices running the Android system.

Less than a year later, Google signed exclusive online advertising agreements with its AdSense search advertising product, suppressing ad competitors, resulting in a €1.49 billion fine.

During her tenure as the EU Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager targeted Google as a primary enforcement target. She stated that the only way to address Google's dominant position in the advertising technology sector is to break up Google's related businesses—a strategy similar to that of the US Department of Justice.

Last year, the EU's new Digital Markets Act came into full effect, with regulatory authorities hoping to ultimately correct Google's behavior. This regulation includes various "dos" and "don'ts," one of which mandates that major tech companies must not favor their own services and engage in practices detrimental to competitors. Clearly, this is the culmination of years of strategic battles between the EU and Google