Google loses court bid to overturn $2.7 billion fine

Google has lost a legal battle in the European Union's top court over its attempt to overturn a €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) fine imposed by the European Commission for abusing its monopoly power to crush rival shopping services.

The European Court of Justice on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision and rejected the company's appeal against the fine imposed by the Commission, the 27-nation bloc's top antitrust enforcer.

"By today's (Tuesday's) ruling, the Court of Justice dismisses the appeal and thus upholds the General Court's ruling," the court said in a press release summarizing its decision.

The commission's original ruling in 2017 accused Google of unfairly directing visitors to its shopping service at the expense of competitors.

It was one of three multibillion-dollar fines the commission has imposed on Google in the previous decade as Brussels began to intensify its crackdown on tech companies.

Google has made changes to comply with the Commission’s ruling that it must treat rivals equally. The company has started holding auctions for shopping search listings that it will compete for alongside other comparison shopping services.

The company had previously appealed the decision, but the General Court of the European Union rejected its appeal in 2021, and the Court of Justice's adviser later recommended that the appeal be dismissed.

(Associated Press)