Setback for Google as EU Court adviser backs $1.7b antitrust fine

EU's General Court overturned the 2024 decision, prompting the Commission to appeal

Google suffered a setback on Thursday ‌as an adviser to Europe's top court faulted a lower tribunal's decision to scrap a €1.49 billion ($1.7 billion) fine levied against the US ​tech giant seven years ago for anti-competitive practices related ​to online advertising.

The General Court rejected the EU decision in ⁠2024, prompting the Commission to appeal to the Luxembourg-based ​Court of Justice of the European Union.

The European Commission, the ​EU's competition watchdog, in its 2019 finding said Google used restrictive clauses in contracts with publishers that prevented rivals from placing search ​advertisements on the publishers' websites, reinforcing Google's dominance in ​online search advertising.

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It said the practices ran from 2006 to 2016. Google, ‌whose ⁠AdSense platform provides search advertising, removed the contested clauses from publisher agreements in 2016.

Advocate General Kokott said the General Court thereby imposed excessive requirements as to the scope of ​the examination of ​the criterion ⁠of duration and did not sufficiently relate its conclusion to the assessment of the ​criteria determining whether a company holds a dominant ​position.

The ⁠court, which usually follows the majority of such recommendations, will rule next year.

The AdSense fine was one of six EU ⁠antitrust ​penalties that have cost Google €10.38 billion ​over nearly two decades.