Google wins antitrust court battle, overturns EU’s €1.5bn fine

New Delhi: Google has successfully revoked a €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) antitrust fine imposed by the European Union (EU) for anti-competitive action related to the company's advertising services. This partial victory comes just days after the tech behemoth faced a major setback in a separate antitrust case.

In Luxembourg, the General Court of the EU ruled that Alphabet, Inc., Google’s parent company, was right in its rebuttal, affirming the country's regulator did in fact mishandle its inquiry into Google’s advertising practices on the internet. This judgment dismisses the EU's argument, presented in 2019, that Google prevented competitors from placing ads on third-party websites illegally.

The EU commission's argument was that Google's dominance as a broker ads online stopped competition, but the court didn't find any determination by regulators that supported the fine. The ruling may still be appealed to the EU's highest court, the Court of Justice.

This judgment is a significant win for Google following two previous antitrust losses. Google was ordered to pay €2.4 billion for preferencing its items in search results, while Apple was forced to pay €13 billion for avoiding tax due Germany.

The case against Google regarding the company's AdSense service will be the final act in a trilogy of anti-competitive concepts confronting the EU's chief, Vestager, and summarises her experience as the bloc's competition boss.