Google Wins Court Challenge Over EU’s Antitrust Fine on Ads

(TheConservativeTimes.org) – The European Union’s second-highest court has sided with the technology company over their antitrust laws and advertising, which would annul the large fine placed on the company.

This case started five years ago when the European Commission said that Alphabet, Google’s parent company, had abused its market dominance in relation to its AdSense product. This product allows website owners to deliver ads to their search results on their own pages.

The commission blamed Google for abusing its position in the market by imposing restrictive clauses in contracts with third-party websites, which prevented rivals from placing their ads on these websites. They tried to fine Google at the time, but the technology company appealed, sending the case to the EU’s General Court.

The court stated that it “upholds the majority of the findings but annuls the decision by which the Commission imposed a fine.” The court continued to say that the commission “failed to take into consideration all the relevant circumstances in its assessment of the duration of the contract clauses.”

A Google spokesperson did come out and speak about the decision, saying, “This case is about a very narrow subset of text-only search ads placed on a limited number of publishers’ websites. We made changes to our contracts in 2016 to remove the relevant provisions, even before the Commission’s decision. We are pleased that the court has recognized errors in the original decision and annulled the fine.”

A spokesperson for the commission said that it takes note of the judgment and will decide the next steps. If they decide to appeal the decision, it would send the case to the European Court of Justice, which is the European Union’s top court.

Just this month, the ECJ upheld a two billion euro fine imposed on Google for abusing its dominant position by favoring its own shopping comparison service. The same court also ruled that Apple would have to pay thirteen billion euros back to Ireland after a decade-long case.