The European Commission accused Google of having abused its dominant position to promote its Google Shopping service, by making competition less visible.
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European justice has confirmed a fine of 2.4 billion euros imposed by Brussels on Google for anti-competitive practices on the price comparison market. The EU court, based in Luxembourg, dismissed an appeal by the American internet giant on Wednesday 10 November, finding that it had indeed “abused its dominant position by favoring its own product comparator over competing comparators”. Google does, however, have the option to challenge this decision in the higher court, the EU Court of Justice.
The Commission, guardian of competition within the EU, accuses Google of having abused its dominant position in online search to promote its Google Shopping price comparison in 13 European countries and ensure it a hegemonic position by making its competitors less visible to consumers. Google Shopping benefited “a presentation and a privileged positioning” while the results of competing comparators were relegated to the search results pages “through ranking algorithms”, the court said in a statement.
The investigation was opened in 2010, after complaints filed by rivals such as the American TripAdvisor or the French comparator Twenga. In addition to paying the fine, Google had been asked to remedy the problem under penalty of penalties, even though the legal action was continuing. The company had to change the display of search results to make more room for competing services. But the latter remain dissatisfied, still believing themselves to be treated unfairly.
In another case, Google challenged at the end of September in European justice a record fine of 4.3 billion euros imposed in July 2018 by Brussels concerning its Android operating system for mobile phones, accused of establishing supremacy of its search engine and its Chrome browser. The European Commission also sanctioned Google with a fine of 1.5 billion euros in March 2019 for anti-competitive practices by its advertising network AdSense. In total, the Commission is therefore claiming from the Mountain View group € 8.2 billion.