Google has appealed the European Union’s antitrust fine related to its shopping service, arguing that regulators failed to prove its anti-competitive practices. Learn more about Google’s efforts to challenge the $2.6 billion Google EU Antitrust Fine in this blog post.
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$2.6 Google EU Antitrust Fine
Alphabet’s Google made its final attempt in Europe’s top court on Tuesday to overturn the €2.42 billion ($2.6 billion) antitrust fine imposed by the European Union for abuse of the market concerning its shopping service. It argued that regulators had failed to demonstrate that its practices were anti-competitive.
In 2021, Google turned to the European Union’s Court of Justice (CJEU) after challenging the fine imposed by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager in 2017.
This was the first of three fines for anti-competitive practices, resulting in a total loss of €8.25 billion for Google over the past decade.
Google’s lawyer, Thomas Graf, argued that the European Commission failed to show that the company’s conduct with competitors was discriminatory, and that distinct behavior did not equate to anti-competitive behavior.
He said, “Companies do not compete by treating their competitors the same way. They compete by treating them differently. The whole point of competition is for a company to distinguish itself from its competitors. It’s not about aligning with competitors to become alike.” The panel of 15 judges.
Graf argued, “Every distinct behavior and, especially, differential conduct towards first and third-party businesses will be considered abusive, competition will weaken. It will weaken companies’ ability to compete and innovate and discourage competition.”
The Commission’s lawyer, Fernando Castillo de la Torre, dismissed Google’s arguments, stating that the company had violated EU antitrust laws by using its algorithm to unfairly benefit its shopping service through improper comparison of prices.
He remarked, “Google had every right to implement an algorithm aimed at diminishing the prominence of certain outcomes that appeared less pertinent to user inquiries.”
“What Google lacked authorization for was exploiting its supremacy in the realm of general search to bolster its standing within vertical markets, to furnish an alluring service, and to implement such actions. an algorithm that pushes results down without having alternative attractive features, without the algorithm lowering the results and displaying them,” he added.
The verdict from the CJEU is anticipated in the forthcoming months.
This case, along with two other cases related to Google’s Android mobile operating system and AdSense advertising service, are less significant than the European Union’s antitrust case against Google’s lucrative In the domain of digital advertising enterprise, the month of June saw regulators contemplate the dissolution of the corporation. The case is C-48/22 Google and Alphabet vs. Commission.
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