European Union toughens its stance against anti-competitive US tech firms as the General Court dismisses Google's appeal against a US$2.8 billion fine

European Union’s General Court, the second most powerful court in the EU, has dismissed Google’s appeal against a US$2.8 billion fine. The European Commission fined Google in 2017 because of an antitrust case. According to the case, Google had used its position as the biggest search engine in the world to deliver search results that promote the company’s shopping comparison service, Google Shopping, over the competition. After the verdict in 2017, Google filed an appeal with the General Court.

The General Court has decided to uphold the fine. The Court stated that there is enough evidence against Google that the company gave preference to its own product even when there were better alternatives available. Google still has the option to appeal against the fine in the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

The judgement has the potential to give EU’s competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s legal arguments more merit. The commissioner can use these arguments in antitrust cases against other US tech firms. Vestager’s key argument is the concept of “self-preferencing”. It is the idea that companies with a market-leading position in one market can use that position to gain an unfair advantage in other markets, breaking antitrust laws.

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