Google loses court battle over $2.7 billion EU antitrust fine

Alphabet's Google on Tuesday lost its fight against a 2.42 billion euro ($2.7 billion) fine levied by EU antitrust regulators seven years ago, one of a trio of hefty fines meted out to the company for various anti-competitive practices.

The European Commission fined the world's most popular internet search engine in 2017 for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.

A lower tribunal had endorsed the EU competition enforcer's decision in 2021, prompting Google to appeal to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union. CJEU judges noted that EU law does not sanction the existence of a dominant position but its abusive exploitation.

"In particular, the conduct of undertakings in a dominant position that has the effect of hindering competition on the merits and is thus likely to cause harm to individual undertakings and consumers is prohibited," they said.

Google has racked up 8.25 billion euros in EU antitrust fines in the last decade. It has challenged two rulings involving its Android mobile operating system and AdSense advertising service, and is now waiting for the judgments.

It is also fighting EU antitrust charges issued last year that could force it to sell part of its lucrative adtech business after regulators accused it of favouring its own advertising services. The case is C-48/22 P Google and Alphabet v Commission (Google Shopping).