Apple and Google lose EU appeals, face multi-billion fines

Europe’s highest court delivered bad news for Apple and Google in the space of a single day on Tuesday. The Silicon Valley tech giants appealed EU fines and the court ruled against both companies, meaning they must pay 13 billion euros ($14.4 billion) for Apple and 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion) for Google.

This is particularly bad news for Apple, which celebrated the launch of the iPhone 16 just a day earlier, and also updated its Apple Watch and AirPod product lines at its annual launch event in September. It marks the end of a decade-long battle in which the company won tax benefits in Ireland, where it has its European headquarters. Apple CEO Tim Cook famously dismissed the case as “political nonsense”, but the Court of Justice has now ruled that “Ireland has granted Apple unlawful aid, which Ireland must recover”.

Google’s fight was with the European Competition Commission, which ruled in 2017 that the company had used its price comparison tool to favor its own shopping results on its search engine, making it harder for smaller European rivals to compete. At the time, the fine was the largest ever imposed by the EU on a single company, and twice as large as initially anticipated, showing that the EU was serious about ensuring Big Tech played fairly in the region. It has since been replaced by another fine, also against Google, for its Android dominance.

Relations between Silicon Valley tech giants and the EU have long been tense. Regulations in Europe are typically stricter than those companies face in the U.S. But for global operations, they must comply with local laws in the countries where they have a base.

In antitrust cases like Google, the ruling has a direct impact on consumers in Europe, because in addition to paying a fine, the company must also change its ways to give rivals a fair chance and shoppers more choice. Meanwhile, the ECJ ruling against Apple will hit the company right in the pocketbook. Despite being a trillion-dollar company, Apple shareholders will not be happy with a multi-billion fine.

Apple and Google representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Today is a great victory for European citizens and for tax justice,” said Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition, who has spearheaded many of the cases that have held Silicon Valley giants to account. “Ireland must now release up to €13 billion in unpaid taxes,” she said in October.