In a significant legal victory, Google has successfully overturned a €1.49 billion ($1.66 billion) antitrust fine imposed by the European Union (EU) Commission. The General Court of the European Union ruled on Wednesday that the Commission had erred in its assessment of certain contractual clauses, leading to the cancellation of the fine.
Cancellation of the EU antitrust fine
The EU Commission had originally levied the fine in 2019, accusing Google of abusing its dominance as a search engine and advertising broker by restricting how rival websites could display ads. The Commission argued that Google had imposed unfair terms on third-party websites, effectively preventing competitors from placing their own search adverts.
While the General Court upheld most of the Commission’s findings regarding Google’s practices, it found that the Commission had incorrectly assessed the duration-of-contract clauses. In light of this, the court overturned the fine.
Reactions
Google welcomed the decision, stating that it had already amended relevant contractual provisions. The company emphasized that the case involved a narrow subset of text-only search ads placed on a limited number of publishers’ websites.
The EU Commission acknowledged the ruling and indicated that it would study the decision and consider possible next steps. The decision can still be appealed to the European Court of Justice.
Google’s advertising practices continue to face scrutiny
This victory comes just a week after the European Union’s top court upheld a fine of $2.67 billion that EU antitrust imposed on Google over how its comparison-shopping service fares in search results.
In addition, the company’s advertising practices continue to face scrutiny from regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.
As for the EU Commission, Wednesday’s setback comes two weeks after the EU’s executive arm faced criticism from the European Court of Justice in a separate case involving Illumina‘s acquisition of Grail.
