google won one of many legal battles it’s currently fighting. Its luck may not last very long.
In a rare win for a US tech giant, Google owner Alphabet won an appeal against the European Commission, overturning a €1.49 billion fine. The Commission could still appeal the decision and continue the legal battle.
Google was fined for its alleged monopoly in the online advertising sector. The initial sentence ruled that Google AdSense was a monopoly and it unfairly restricted rivals from showing up.
However, the EU’s General Court annulled the Commission’s sentence as it “failed to take into consideration all the relevant circumstances in its assessment of the duration of the contract clauses that the commission had deemed abusive.”
The “institution committed errors in its assessment,” the sentence added.
The EU Commission fined Alphabet on two other separate occasions. In 2018, the institution hit Google with a $4.3 billion fine, the worst sentence in the company’s history. That sentence, which Google failed to overturn, found the company guilty of unfair market practices to boost its search engine’s usage on Android smartphones.
Google tried to overturn another $2.4 billion fine last month but lost in appeal and the sentence remained unchanged.
Following the $1.49 billion sentence that got overturned today, Google criticized the Commission’s judgment saying it was ridden with “material errors”.
Domestic issues
The European Commission is not the only legal foe Google is currently facing. Back home, the US Department of Justice slapped Alphabet with a sentence that could cause the company’s break-up.
The DOJ sentence ruled Alphabet owns a monopoly in the search engine market, and is using its market position to undermine rivals.
The final verdict could hit Google with a monetary fine, although a legal restriction appears the most likely option. A similar antitrust case was issued against Microsoft in 2000, resulting in the company’s split up. Microsoft, however, managed to appeal the sentence.
Alphabet could similarly appeal any final verdict, although it would still mean years of long and exhausting legal battles on both sides of the Atlantic.
EU antitrust watchdog Margaret Vestager expressed optimism about the US approach to antitrust issues. She noted the US Department of Justice is taking antitrust battles against big tech more seriously than 10 years ago, following the EU’s guidelines.
The European Union now has a new legal instrument to use against US tech giants. The Digital Market Act came into force last March and is currently in use in investigations against Alphabet, Meta (Facebook), and Apple.
The crackdown on big tech will not end any time soon. Neither in the European Union nor in the United States.
