Google, Apple lose EU court battles | News, Sports, Jobs

LONDON (AP) — Google lost its latest attempt to overturn an antitrust fine imposed by the European Union after the bloc’s top court ruled against it Tuesday in a case that involved a huge fine and ushered in an era of heightened scrutiny of big tech companies.

The European Union’s highest court has rejected Google’s appeal against a $2.7 billion fine imposed by the European Commission, the 27-member country’s top competition authority, for violating antitrust rules over its price comparison service.

Also on Tuesday, Apple lost a court appeal against an order to pay $14.34 billion in back taxes to Ireland, after the European Court of Justice issued a separate ruling siding with the Commission in a case involving illegal state aid to global corporations.

Both companies have exhausted their appeals in cases that date back a decade. Together, the court rulings are a victory for EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is due to step down next month after 10 years as the commission’s top competition watchdog.

Experts say the rulings show how emboldened regulators have become since the first cases were brought.

One takeaway from the Apple decision is “a sense that EU authorities and courts are prepared to use their (collective) power to bring big tech companies to heel if necessary,” Alex Haffner, a competition partner at law firm Fladgate, said in an email.

The Google ruling “reflects the growing confidence with which competition regulators around the world are addressing perceived abuses by big tech companies,” said Gareth Mills, a partner at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys.

The fine for shopping violations was one of three hefty antitrust penalties levied against Google by the commission, which penalized the Silicon Valley giant in 2017 for unfairly directing users to its own Google Shopping service rather than those of competitors.

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