In 2019, Google made headlines around the world following a very heavy financial penalty imposed by the European Commission. After a lengthy investigation that lasted several years, the Commission’s conclusion was clear: Google had abused its position in online advertising. After appealing this decision, the Mountain View firm won its case five years later.
Google saves 1.5 billion euros thanks to European justice
In a report published online, the General Court of the European Union announces good news for Google, the fine of 1.5 billion euros to which the Californian giant was sentenced is completely erased. As a reminder, the facts go back more than 5 years, Google had been accused by the European Commission of abusing its dominant position in the online advertising sector with its advertising network Google AdSense.
This accusation was perceived by the Californian giant as incomprehensible, especially since concrete measures had been taken by Google’s management a few years before the conviction to avoid “stifling competition” in online advertising.
This is what the General Court of the European Union said about the annulment of Google’s conviction:
The General Court upholds the majority of the Commission’s conclusions, but annuls the decision by which the Commission had imposed a fine of almost EUR 1.5 billion on Google, on the grounds, among other things, that it had not taken into account all the relevant circumstances in its assessment of the duration of the contractual terms deemed unfair by the Commission.
The General Court considers that the Commission has failed to establish that the three clauses it had identified each constituted an abuse of a dominant position and, together, a single and continuous infringement of Article 102 TFEU. The General Court annuls the Commission’s decision in its entirety.
Obviously, the cancellation of this conviction pleases Google, the company declared this via one of its spokespersons:
We amended our contracts in 2016 to remove the relevant provisions, even before the Commission’s decision. We are pleased that the court has acknowledged errors in the original decision and annulled the fine.
The case is now closed, and it remains to be seen whether the European Commission will open further investigations into Google’s online advertising activities.
