Technology: Alphabet’s Google unit won its case against a 1.49 billion euro ($1.66 billion) antitrust fine imposed five years ago for hindering competitors in online search advertising on Wednesday, a week after it lost a much bigger case.
The European Commission said in its 2019 ruling that Google abused its dominant position to prevent websites from using brokers other than its AdSense platform to deliver search ads. It said the practice was illegal and continued from 2006 to 2016. The Luxembourg court generally agreed with the EU competition authority’s assessment of the case, but overturned the fine.
The judges said: “The General Court confirmed most of the Commission’s assessment but overturned the decision to impose a fine of almost €1.5 billion on Google, in particular on the grounds that it took into account the duration of contractual provisions in its assessment.” The relevant circumstances were not taken into account, which they considered unreasonable. The AdSense fine is one of three fines that cost Google a total of 8.25 billion euros. The fine was imposed in 2010 following a complaint by Microsoft.
Google said it had changed the targeting contracts in 2016, before the Commission’s decision.
