EU General Court cancels 2019 penalty, citing lack of evidence against company’s anti-competitive practices
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, won this Wednesday (18.Sep.2024) a lawsuit against a fine for EU (European Union) antitrust lawsuit of €1.5 billion.
The European Commission had accused Google in 2019 of abusing its dominance to undermine competition. Here is the full of the decision (PDF – 122 kB, in English).
The General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg agreed with the Commission’s assessment but cancelled the fine.
For the judges, the Commission “did not demonstrate that the clauses at issue had discouraged innovation, helped Google maintain its dominant position, or harmed consumers.”.
According to information from ReutersGoogle responded, highlighting that it had already modified its contracts in 2016, before the Commission’s decision, and expressed satisfaction that the court had recognized flaws in the original decision.
The European Commission, which can appeal to the CJEU, said it would review the ruling and consider next steps. The AdSense fine is part of a series of fines totaling 8.25 billion euros imposed on Google, which began with a complaint from Microsoft in 2010.
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