On November 10, the General Court of the European Union released its long-awaited decision in the Google shopping case, “largely dismissing” Google’s appeal and upholding the European Commission’s $2.8 billion fine against the online platform. The court’s decision follows the Commission’s finding in 2017 that Google favors its own price-comparison shopping service at the expense of smaller competitors. It was the first of the Commission’s three investigations and fines against Google in recent years. The court’s decision states that the Commission correctly found that Google’s practices harmed competition, in addition to ruling out any objective justifications for Google’s conduct and noting that the fine was appropriate considering the serious nature and intentionality of the violation. The General Court’s decisions can be appealed to the Court of Justice on points of law, although Google has not yet decided whether to do so, according to news reports. Read more about the court’s decision here and the full decision here.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
