Advocate urges that Google’s EU fine be upheld

Alphabet unit Google’s €2.42bn EU antitrust fine should be upheld by Europe’s top court, an adviser to the court said on Thursday, perhaps dealing a heavy blow to the world’s most popular internet search engine.

The European Commission issued the company with a fine in 2017 for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.

The shopping case was the first of three EU decisions that resulted in a total of €8.25bn in fines for Google last decade.

Advocate-general Juliane Kokott of the EU’s court of justice said the judges should confirm the fine. “Google, as found by the commission and confirmed by the general court, was leveraging its dominant position on the market for general search services to favour its own comparison shopping service by favouring the display of its results,” she said.

Judges, who follow the majority of such nonbinding recommendations, will rule in the coming months. A lower tribunal sided with the EU competition enforcer in 2021.

Google said it will review the opinion and wait for the court ruling.

“Irrespective of the appeal, we continue to invest in our remedy, which has been working successfully for several years, and will continue to work constructively with the European Commission,” said a spokesperson.

EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager was due to meet Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and other Big Tech leaders in the US later on Thursday to discuss competition and digital issues.

Google also challenged the other two rulings on its Android mobile operating system and AdSense advertising service.