Google Prepared Defense Against European Fine

Google has prepared its defense against European Comission from 2017 for breaching competition rules. Their appeal against the decision has moved to the court.

EC decided to fine Google €2.42 billion, stating that thee company took advantage of its dominant position by promoting its own shopping service in search results. Google appealed the decision a few months later.

Google argued that it had fulfilled competition obligations and granted rivals access to its products. It highlighted rival Amazon was not considered in the investigation, though the EC recognised the online retailer provided a platform where customers can search for and compare products. The company also claimed traffic for shopping comparison services declined in countries where they didn’t engage in such conduct.

Over the past three years, the EC handed down fines totalling €8.21 billion on Google, all for competition law breaches. In 2018 the company was fined €4.3 billion for requiring smartphone vendors to include Google apps and placing them in prominent positions. This was followed by a €1.49 billion fine last year for blocking adverts from its search rivals.