EU Competition Chief Wins Against Google in Antitrust Case

Margrethe Vestager is the Competition Chief of the European Union. (Wikimedia Commons)

The EU General Court found that EU Competition Chief Margrethe Vestager was right to fine Google and its parent company Alphabet €2.42 billion ($2.72 billion) three years ago for anti-competitive practices by Google Shopping on November 10. This ruling will allow a clear precedent for more antitrust cases in the EU against Google’s other services and other large tech companies that engage in similar actions.

Vestager alleged in 2017 that Google Shopping manipulated its algorithm to promote its own shopping comparison service over competitors, and Google appealed the case, claiming that it changed its algorithm to improve search quality and that it already competed with other services like Amazon and eBay. "Google favors its own comparison shopping service over competing services, rather than a better result over another result," the court announced.

The imposed fine was 2.5 percent of Google’s revenue in 2016. The court rejected Google’s argument that the algorithm charges were solely for search quality and responded that, "Google has not demonstrated efficiency gains linked to that practice that would counteract its negative effects on competition."

“A great day for antitrust enforcers who want to deal seriously with anti-competitive conduct of digital platforms and have relied on this precedent,” Isabelle de Silva, France’s former competition chief, tweeted.

Yelp’s Senior Vice President of Public Policy, Luther Lowe tweeted: “Yelp welcomes today’s ruling of the European General Court, which has found Google guilty of abusing its dominance in general search to extinguish competitors in vertical search services without any efficiency justification.”

In 2017, in response to the court’s decision, Google announced that it would run Google Shopping independently to avoid further litigation. Google said in response to the ruling that it already “made changes back in 2017 to comply with the European Commission’s decision [that shopping comparison companies must give competition equal treatment]”. Google can appeal the EU General Court’s decision to the European Court of Justice; however, their spokesperson declined to comment on possible appeals.

As this case is wrapping up, Alphabet has been the target of three new antitrust lawsuits in the U.S. in 2021, and two more antitrust cases launched in the EU by Vestager. The €2.4 billion fine is the second-largest antitrust penalty that the EU has given to a company yet, but upcoming cases might challenge that feat.

"Today’s judgment delivers the clear message that Google’s conduct was unlawful and it provides the necessary legal clarity for the market," the European Commission declared in a news release, "The Commission will continue to use all tools at its disposal to address the role of big digital platforms."