Google Loses Fight Against $2.7 Billion EU Antitrust Fine

BRUSSELS—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.

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