LONDON (AP) 鈥� Google lost its final legal challenge on Tuesday against a European Union penalty for giving its own shopping recommendations an illegal advantage over rivals in search results, ending a long-running antitrust case that came with a whopping fine.
The European Union鈥檚 Court of Justice upheld a lower court鈥檚 decision, rejecting the company鈥檚 appeal against the 2.4 billion euro ($2.7 billion) penalty from the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc鈥檚 top antitrust enforcer.
"By today鈥檚 judgment, the Court of Justice dismisses the appeal and thus upholds the judgment of the General Court," the court said in a press release summarizing its decision.
The commission punished the Silicon Valley giant in 2017 for unfairly directing visitors to its own Google Shopping service to the detriment of competitors. It was one of three that the in the previous decade as Brussels started ramping up its crackdown on the tech industry.
鈥淲e are disappointed with the decision of the Court, which relates to a very specific set of facts,鈥� Google said in a brief statement.
The company said in 2017 to comply with the commission鈥檚 decision requiring it to treat competitors equally. It started holding auctions for shopping search listings that it would bid for alongside other comparison shopping services.
鈥淥ur approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services,鈥� Google said.
At the same time, the company appealed the decision to the courts. But the EU General Court, the tribunal's lower section, in 2021 and the Court of Justice鈥檚 adviser later the appeal.
European consumer group BEUC hailed the court's decision, saying it shows how the bloc's competition law 鈥渞emains highly relevant" in digital markets.
"Google harmed millions of European consumers by ensuring that rival comparison shopping services were virtually invisible," director general Agust铆n Reyna said. 鈥淕oogle鈥檚 illegal practices prevented consumers from accessing potentially cheaper prices and useful product information from rival comparison shopping services on all sorts of products, from clothes to washing machines.鈥�
Google is still appealing the other two EU antitrust penalties, which involved its Android mobile operating system and AdSense advertising platform. The company was dealt a setback in the Android case when the EU General Court 4.125 billion euro fine in a 2022 decision. Its initial appeal against a 1.49 billion euro fine in the has yet to be decided.
Those three cases foreshadowed expanded efforts by regulators worldwide to crack down on the tech industry. The EU has since opened more investigations into Big Tech companies and drafted new laws to clean up social media platforms and regulate artificial intelligence.
Google is now facing particular pressure over its lucrative digital advertising business. In a federal antitrust , the U.S. Department of Justice is alleging the company holds a monopoly in the 鈥渁d tech鈥� industry.
British competition regulators accused Google last week of abusing its dominance in ad tech while the EU is carrying out its own investigation.
Kelvin Chan, The Associated Press
