Google's appeal in EU shopping antitrust case is rejected, with a whopping fine of 2.4 billion euros

London, September 10, 2024. Google has lost its final legal challenge against an EU penalty. The EU court upheld the lower court's judgment and rejected Google's appeal against the 2.4 billion euro fine imposed by the European Commission. In 2017, the European Commission accused Google of giving its own shopping recommendations an illegal advantage in search results, harming the interests of compe***s. This is one of many hefty fines imposed on Google by the EU.

Google expressed disappointment with the judgment, saying that it had made changes in 2017 to comply with EU requirements, holding auctions for shopping search lists and bidding against other comparison shopping services, and that this method has been successful. The European consumer organization BEUC welcomed the judgment, saying that Google had harmed the interests of European consumers.

Google is still appealing two other antitrust penalties from the EU, involving the Android mobile operating system and the AdSense advertising platform. The three cases signal the increased crackdown on the technology industry by global regulators. Since then, the EU has launched more investigations and drafted new laws to regulate the technology field. Currently, Google is under great pressure due to its digital advertising business. The US Department of Justice has accused Google of monopolizing the "advertising technology" industry in a federal antitrust trial. Last week, the UK competition regulator also criticized Google, and the EU is also conducting relevant investigations.