Two court decisions related to digital regulation were handed down in September, each time involving Google. In one case, a fine of 2.4 billion euros against the company was confirmed. In the other, the fine of 1.49 billion euros was cancelled.
September 2024 will likely leave Google with a mixed memory — at least in the field of digital regulation. Indeed, the American company was faced with two court decisions a few days apart, with very different conclusions. In one, its sanction was confirmed, in the other, it was lifted.
On 10 September, the Court of Justice of the European Union thus confirmed a fine of 2.4 billion euros imposed on Google in 2017 by the European Commission. The institution’s analysis is that the internet giant has indeed abused its dominant position in search to favor Shopping, its product comparison service.
But eight days later, Brussels lost on another case: that of the advertising platform AdSense, which Google has controlled since 2003. In a judgment of September 18, the General Court of the European Union canceled the Commission’s decision to fine the Mountain View firm €1.49 billion in 2019.
The Court has indeed validated ” Most of the Commission’s assessments “, but noted errors made regarding ” his assessment of the duration of the disputed clauses “, and on their scope for the year 2016. However, the Court notes that Google updated or deleted these contested clauses that year.
Bruxelles « failed to establish that the three clauses it had identified constituted, each, an abuse of a dominant position and, together, a single and continuous infringement “, adds the Court, in any case to the point of being both harmful to innovation, too favorable to Google and detrimental to Internet users.
A third conflict between Google and Brussels
Since the Commission failed to demonstrate this, the Court decided to annul the decision in its entirety. The case can still be appealed within two months and ten days of the verdict. There is also the possibility of appealing the other case, and the fine of €2.4 billion.
The legal duel between the Commission and Google is therefore not yet over, especially since there is a third case pending: a fine of 4.34 billion euros for restrictions on Android. The sanction, imposed in 2018, is obviously being fought by Google. An initial decision by the Court was unfavorable to the internet giant, but it is not over.
Source: www.numerama.com
