The European Court of Justice upheld a 2017 order imposing a $3 billion fine on Google for abusing its market dominance to crush rival shopping services.

In 2017, the European Commission fined Google 2,424,495,000 euros (approximately 378 billion yen) for violating EU antitrust laws by displaying its own price comparison service at the top of search results. Google appealed to the European Court of Justice, but the Court ruled in favor of the European Commission's order.

The Court of Justice upholds the fine of €2.4 billion imposed on Google for abuse of its dominant position by favoring its own comparative shopping service - Court of Justice of the European Union
(PDF file) https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2024-09/cp240135en.pdf

Google (GOOGL) Loses EU Court Fight to Overturn €2.4 Billion Fine - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-10/google-loses-eu-court-fight-to-overturn-2-4-billion-fine

Google loses fight against $2.7 billion EU antitrust fine | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/technology/eu-court-upholds-googles-27-bln-eu-antitrust-fine-2024-09-10/

Google offers a service called 'Google Shopping' that allows users to compare and consider prices at multiple stores before purchasing a product. This Google Shopping comparison also appears at the top of the results when searching for a product name on Google, but the European Commission pointed out that 'Google, which has an overwhelming share of the search service market, is actively infringing on its competitors,' and imposed a fine of 2,424,495,000 euros.

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A lower EU court endorsed the European Commission's decision in 2021, and Google and its parent company Alphabet appealed the decision to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The European Court of Justice ruled that 'Google's conduct is discriminatory and goes beyond the bounds of fair competition,' and dismissed the appeal by Google and Alphabet. In its ruling, the Court further stated, 'EU antitrust law prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position, not the market position itself. If the conduct of a dominant company undermines fair competition and is likely to harm other companies or consumers, it is prohibited.'

The ruling finalizes the fine imposed on Google of 2,424,495,000 euros, of which 523,518,000 euros (approximately 82 billion yen) will be paid jointly by Alphabet.

'This is a major victory for digital fairness,' European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.

@EUCourtPress also upholds @EU_Commission 's decision on @Google Shopping.

It confirms that @Google favored its own comparison shopping service and actively limited choice for European users.

Also a big win for digital fairness ????

— Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) September 10, 2024

However, a Google spokesperson said the company was 'disappointed by the court's decision,' and argued that proposals it made in 2017 to address the EU's concerns had helped increase clicks to rival shopping services.