On Wednesday, Europe’s second-top court supported Google’s challenge against a 1.49 billion euros ($1.66 billion) antitrust fine imposed five years ago. The fine was for hindering rivals in online search advertising. The court upheld most of the commission’s assessments but annulled the decision to impose the fine.
This was due to the commission’s failure to consider all relevant circumstances in its assessment of the duration of the unfair contractual clauses. In 2019, the European Commission fined Google 1.49 billion euros, adding to a total of 8.25 billion euros in fines for the company.
The case is T-334/19 Google and Alphabet v Commission (Google AdSense for Search).