He Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ratified this Tuesday the GOOD from 2.4 billion euros to Google for abuse of power, a decision announced shortly after the judgment against Applewhich will have to return 13 billion and also pay a fine of 2,400 for its tax advantages in Ireland. In the case of Google, the ruling of the CJEU – without appeal – supports Brussels’ decision to sanction the company for having favored its own. product comparison service compared to those of its competitors.
It was in 2017 that the European Commission imposed a sanction on the tech giant for using its dominant position as a search engine to display the results of its own tool with greater relevance. This is how the American multinational has managed, according to the Community Executive, to attract a greater number of users who have chosen to do so click in Google’s product comparison service results ahead of its competitors.
Following the investigation, the European Commission fined the technology company €2.4 billion because “the diversion of data traffic from Google’s general results page” was not due to “better quality of your servicebut to self-favoritism“.
Alphabet, Google’s unique partner
Alphabet It paid 523,518,000 euros of the total amount of the fine as Google’s sole partner, a sum it faced jointly and severally. However, both companies appealed the Brussels decision to the European Court of Justice, which ultimately decided to ratify it in this appeal after also giving their consent at first instance.
The European Court, according to the judgment, recalls that the Community law does not prohibit the existence of the dominant position of the Google tool mentioned, but it prohibits its abusive exploitation.
Likewise, he points out that the European Commission’s investigation has managed to demonstrate that the behavior of the American multinational was “discriminatory” compared to its competitors, and therefore this relevance which distinguishes it is not a consequence of the merits of the company, determines the Luxembourg-based organization.
