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Google’s latest antitrust headache? A €2.4 billion fine in Europe.

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Google’s latest antitrust headache? A €2.4 billion fine in Europe.

  • Europe’s top court has upheld a €2.4 billion antitrust fine against Google.
  • The 2017 decision found Google used its search-engine dominance to favor its own services.
  • It’s the latest in a series of clashes between Alphabet and international regulators.

Europe’s top court has upheld a €2.4 billion ($2.67 billion) antitrust fine against Google in the latest regulatory blow for the tech giant.

On Tuesday, the Court of Justice of the European Union backed a 2017 decision that found Google had used its search-engine dominance to favor its own comparison shopping service over competitors.

The commission said Google had presented search results from its own shopping services in boxes with attractive images and text information. In contrast, competing comparison services appeared as simple, generic blue links. This, per the ruling, left competing sites prone to being demoted by Google’s algorithms.

The fine, which the tech giant has been appealing for years, set a record at the time. But in 2018, Google was hit with another record fine of €4.3 billion for abusing the dominance of its Android operating system.

A Google spokesperson told Business Insider the company was “disappointed with the decision of the court.”

“This judgment relates to a very specific set of facts. We made changes back in 2017 to comply with the European Commission’s decision. Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

It’s the latest in a series of clashes between Alphabet-owned Google and regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.

It comes as Google faces the prospect of class action lawsuits after a federal judge ruled last month that the tech giant violated US antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in the online search market. Analysts say it could end up costing Google more than $100 billion.

Google also faces a landmark antitrust trial over its alleged digital ad market monopoly. The DOJ and 17 states have alleged that Google used acquisitions and ad auction tactics illegally.


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