EU Upholds €2.42 Billion Fine Against Google for Abuse of Dominant Position
EU Upholds €2.42 Billion Fine Against Google for Abuse of Dominant Position
The European Union's Court of Justice (CJEU) has rejected an appeal by Google, confirming the €2.42 billion fine imposed by the European Commission in 2017 for abusing its dominant position through its product comparison service, Google Shopping.
This ruling dismisses the appeal filed by Google and its parent company, Alphabet, against a previous lower court decision that had upheld the fine, which at the time was the largest ever imposed for abuse of a dominant position.
The European judges ruled that "the General Court correctly found that, in this case, given the characteristics of the market and the specific circumstances, Google's conduct was discriminatory and did not reflect competition based on merit."
The case dates back to 2017, when the European Commission concluded that Google was giving preferential treatment to the results of its own product comparison service over those of its competitors.
Specifically, Google presented search results from its product comparison service at the top, highlighting them with attractive image and text information, while competitors' products were displayed lower on the page as simple blue links.
The European Commission's Competition Services deemed this to be an abuse of Google's dominant position and imposed the €2.42 billion fine, which Google and Alphabet subsequently appealed to the European courts.
The EU's General Court initially ruled in favor of the European Commission, and this ruling was further appealed by Google.
The CJEU has now dismissed Google's appeal and upheld the lower court's verdict.
Google's Abusive Exploitation In its ruling, the court emphasized that EU law does not prohibit the mere existence of a dominant position, but rather its abusive exploitation, particularly when such behavior by a dominant company restricts merit-based competition, potentially harming other companies and consumers.
Such behaviors include actions that prevent the maintenance or development of competition in a market already weakened by the presence of one or more dominant companies.
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The CJEU noted that not every instance of a dominant company giving more favorable treatment to its products or services than to those of its rivals constitutes anti-competitive behavior. However, in this specific case, the court concluded that, given the market's characteristics and the case's specific circumstances, Google's conduct was indeed discriminatory and did not align with competition based on merit.