LONDON (AP) \u2014 Google won a court challenge on Wednesday against a 1.49 billion euro ($1.66 billion) European Union antitrust fine\u00a0imposed five years ago\u00a0that targeted its online advertising business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EU\u2019s General Court said it was throwing out the 2019 penalty imposed by the European Commission, which is the 27-nation bloc\u2019s top antitrust enforcer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe General Court annuls the Commission\u2019s decision in its entirety,\u201d the court said in a press release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The commission\u2019s ruling applied to a narrow portion of Google\u2019s ad business: ads that the U.S. tech giant sold next to Google search results on third-party websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regulators had accused Google of inserting exclusivity clauses in its contracts that barred these websites from running similarly placed ads sold by Google\u2019s rivals. The commission said when it issued the penalty that Google\u2019s behavior resulted in advertisers and website owners having less choice and likely facing higher prices that would be passed on to consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the General Court said the commission \u201ccommitted errors\u201d when it assessed those clauses. The commission failed to demonstrate that Google\u2019s contracts deterred innovation, harmed consumers or helped the company hold on to and strengthen its dominant position in national online search advertising markets, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ruling can be appealed, but only on points of law, to the Court of Justice, the bloc\u2019s top court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The commission said in a brief statement that it \u201cwill carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Google said it changed its contracts in 2016 to remove the provisions in question, even before the commission imposed its decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are pleased that the court has recognised errors in the original decision and annulled the fine,\u201d Google said in a statement. \u201cWe will review the full decision closely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company\u2019s legal victory comes a week after it lost a final challenge against a separate EU antitrust case for its\u00a0shopping comparison service\u00a0that also involved a hefty fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were among three antitrust penalties totaling about 8 billion euros that the commission punished Google with in the previous decade. The penalties marked the beginning of an era of intensifying scrutiny for Big Tech companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since then, Google has faced escalating pressure on both sides of the Atlantic over its digital ad business. It\u2019s currently battling the Justice Department in a U.S. federal court over allegations that its dominance over the technology that controls the sale of billions of internet display ads constitutes an illegal monopoly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
British competition regulators this month accused the company of abusing its dominance in the country\u2019s digital ad market and giving preference to its own\u00a0services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EU antitrust enforcers carrying out their own investigation\u00a0suggested last year\u00a0that breaking up the company was the only way to satisfy competition concerns about its digital ad business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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