Google loses appeal of $2.8 billion fine in EU antitrust case

In a major ruling that bolsters the European Union’s efforts to clamp down on the world’s largest technology companies, Google lost an appeal Wednesday to overturn a landmark antitrust ruling by European regulators against the internet giant.

The decision by the Luxembourg-based General Court related to a 2017 decision by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, to fine Google about $2.8 billion for giving preferential treatment to its own price-comparison shopping service over rival services.

The penalty was the first of three issued by Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s top antitrust enforcer, against Google.

And with the other cases also being appealed — and additional European investigations underway against Amazon, Apple and Facebook — the case has been watched closely as a signal of the court’s view of the European

Commission’s aggressive use of antitrust law against American tech giants.

Google can appeal the decision to the EU’S highest court, the European Court of Justice.

Amid increasing support for regulating large tech platforms in the United States and European Union, courts will play a central role in determining just how far governments will be able to go when intervening in the digital economy. In the United States, Google is facing a Justice Department lawsuit for anticompetitive behavior, and Facebook is facing another from the Federal Trade Commission.

In Europe, the courts have sometimes ruled against regulators. Last year, the General Court ruled against an order to require Apple to pay about $15 billion in unpaid taxes. Amazon also successfully appealed another order to repay taxes.

In its ruling against Google on Wednesday, the court said, “By favoring its own comparison shopping service on its general