Here’s how and why the EU Court disappoints Google
The General Court of the European Union rejected Google's appeal against the 2.4 billion antitrust fine. But the Google Shopping case isn't over yet. All the details
The General Court of the European Union has rejected Google's appeal against the € 2.4 billion fine imposed by Brussels for abuse of dominant position.
A VICTORY FOR VESTAGER
The newspapers present the news as a victory for Margrethe Vestager , European Commissioner for Competition and responsible for the “Europe Fit for the Digital Age” plan, which should make the Union a more relevant technological power in the world.
Vestager, known for its hard line against big tech companies, had sanctioned Google in 2017 for the favor it provided, on its hugely popular search engine, to its price comparison service for online purchases (aka Google Shopping ), giving it an advantage over to smaller European rivals. At the time, the 2.4 billion fine was the largest ever imposed by the European Union on a company for antitrust reasons.
After Google – which last decade collected fines from European authorities for a total of 8.2 billion -, Vestager has moved on to focus on the other three American Big Techs: Amazon, Apple and Facebook. Investigations are still ongoing, Reuters recalls.
THE JUDGMENT OF THE GENERAL COURT
The General Court ruled that it “largely rejects Google's appeal against the Commission's decision, which finds that Google abused its dominant position by favoring its purchase comparison service over competing purchase comparison services. ".
However, Google has the possibility to appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest court of the block. The company claims that its price comparison service is not only useful for consumers to find the products they are looking for, but also allows advertisers to reach potential customers.
The case, which began with the 2017 fine, is therefore not yet closed.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE EUROPEAN APPROACH
Although the European Commission has imposed fines on Google for violating competition laws for over a decade, the company continues to be unrivaled in Europe. And this thing, writes the US newspaper The Washington Post , "raises questions about the effectiveness of the European approach".
The Washington Post , however, also recalls that the Brussels approach was studied by foreign antitrust authorities for the definition of their strategies towards Big Tech.
Last year, for example, the United States Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against the so-called "historic" company. In the country, the issue of containment of large tech companies is gathering support from both the Democratic and Republican parties: last month, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar and Republican Senator Charles Grassley introduced a law to prevent Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook from promote their services on their respective platforms.
THE GOOGLE REPLY
"Ads on Shopping help people find the products they are looking for quickly and easily, and help contacts to reach potential customers – said a spokesperson for Google, commenting on the decision of the EU Court – Today's judgment, which we will examine in detail , refers to a series of very specific facts and already in 2017 we made changes to comply with the decision of the European Commission. Our approach has worked successfully for more than three years, generating billions of clicks for more than 700 comparison shopping services. "
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/google-corte-generale-unione-europea-rigetto-ricorso-multa/ on Wed, 10 Nov 2021 11:42:44 +0000.