Google has overturned a €1.49bn (£1.26bn) fine imposed by the European Union for allegedly blocking rival online search advertisers.
The fine was initially levied after the EU accused the tech giant of abusing its dominant position in the market by restricting third-party competitors from displaying search ads between 2006 and 2016.
The decision came from Europe’s General Court, the EU’s second-highest judicial body, which found that the European Commission made errors in its original assessment.
According to a report by BBC News, the ruling annulled the fine and questioned the Commission’s handling of the case.
In response, Google expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision. “We are pleased that the court has recognised errors in the original decision and annulled the fine,” the company said in a statement. It added that it would thoroughly review the full ruling to understand its implications.
The European Commission, responsible for enforcing competition laws in the EU, acknowledged the court’s decision and indicated that it would consider its next steps, which could include an appeal to the European Court of Justice, the EU’s highest court.
This ruling marks a rare legal victory for Google in its ongoing battle with EU regulators. Between 2017 and 2019, the company faced a series of antitrust fines totaling €8.2 billion, including penalties related to its search engine practices and other market activities.
The case underscores the complexities of regulating major tech firms and their market practices in Europe, where antitrust authorities continue to scrutinize large corporations for potential abuses of market power.
It failed in its attempt to have one of those fines overturned last week. It is not just in under Europe where it is under pressure over its highly lucrative ad tech business.
Earlier this month, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) provisionally found it used anti-competitive practices to dominate the market.
The US government is also taking the tech giant to court over the same issue, with prosecutors alleging its parent company, Alphabet, illegally operates a monopoly in the market.
Alphabet has argued its market dominance is due to the effectiveness of its products.
According to the report, the case revolved around Google’s AdSense product, which delivers adverts to websites – making Google almost like a broker for ads.
The Commission concluded Google had abused its dominance to prevent websites from using brokers other than AdSense when they were seeking adverts for their web pages.
It said the firm then added other “restrictive” clauses to its contracts to reinforce its market dominance – and levied a €1.49bn fine as a penalty.
In its ruling, the EU’s General Court upheld the majority of the Commission’s findings – but annulled the decision by which the Commission imposed the fine
It said the Commission had not considered all the relevant circumstances concerning the contract clauses and how it defined the market.
Because of this, it ruled the Commission did not establish an abuse of dominant position.