Apple and Google Both Lose Appeals in the EU

Big Tech’s legal losses continued this week with Apple and Google both losing appeals with the EU Court of Justice. The cases are separate and unrelated, and both mark the respective end games of separate legal proceedings in the EU. But the short version is that Apple must pay €13 billion in unpaid taxes while Google is fined €2.4 billion for antitrust abuses in online shopping.

It’s just another Tuesday in Europe, in other words.

“Today is a huge win for European citizens and tax justice,” European Commission executive vice president Margrethe Vestager tweeted about the Apple case. “In its final judgment, (the EU Court of Justice) confirms (the Commission’s) 2016 decision: Ireland granted illegal aid to Apple.”

As noted above, the EC charged Apple with underpaying taxes in the EU by €13 billion when Ireland broke the bloc’s state-aid laws by giving the company an unfair tax break for almost 20 years. The EC found the firm guilty of tax evasion in 2016, and while that decision was tossed aside on appeal in 2020, the EC appealed in turn, and has now won the case. Apple had previously put the money–roughly the same amount of its combined Mac and iPad revenues in the most quarter–in escrow, and it will now be released to Ireland.

“We are disappointed with today’s decision as previously the general court reviewed the facts and categorically annulled this case,” an Apple statement notes.

In the Google case, the online giant was charged with violating EU antitrust laws in 2017 by favoring its own shopping services in results generated by its dominant Search service. Google appealed that case and lost in 2021, setting up its liability for the $2.8 billion fine it was assessed in 2017. It then appealed that verdict to the European Court of Justice, which just ended the legal process by finding Google guilty yet again.

Google says it is “disappointed” with the ruling, but it has bigger and multiple legal and antitrust issues to contend with in both Europe and the United States. The firm’s latest antitrust trial in the US, for online ads, just got underway this week, and it was found guilty of sweeping antitrust abuses related to Search last month. That case is serious enough that it may lead to a break-up of the company. And the EU is considering a similar remedy for Google’s abuses in the online advertising market.

The only question remaining is why these cases took so long to conclude: Both are several years old, and in the Apple case, Ireland as since reformed its tax policies and now describes the Apple incident as “historical.” The EU has been incredibly aggressive charging Big Tech with its obvious crimes, but the legal process there is so slow that it gives these companies time to move on to other abuses.