The European Union’s second-highest court has annulled a €1.5 billion ($1.67 billion) antitrust fine imposed on Google by regulators in 2019. The case stems from allegations that Google abused its market dominance in relation to AdSense for Search, which allowed website owners to deliver ads into search results.
The European Commission had fined Google €1.49 billion for imposing restrictive clauses in contracts with third-party websites, preventing rivals from placing their own search ads on these sites. However, the EU’s General Court has now sided with Google, upholding most of the findings but annulling the fine due to procedural errors by the Commission.
The court found that the Commission had failed to consider all relevant circumstances in its assessment of the duration of the contract clauses deemed abusive. A Google spokesperson welcomed the decision, stating that the company removed the relevant provisions from its contracts in 2016, even before the Commission’s original decision.
The European Commission has taken note of the judgement and will reflect on possible next steps. The case could be appealed to the European Court of Justice, the EU’s top court. This ruling comes amid a slew of recent high-profile cases involving the EU and US tech companies.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/18/court-backs-googles-challenge-to-the-eus-1point7-billion-antitrust-fine.html