Google(GOOG.US) and Apple(AAPL.US) both lost lawsuits in the EU on the same day!
1min read Google (GOOGL.US) has been hit with a record 2.4bn euros ($2.6bn) fine for abusing its dominant position in the search market to stifle rivals' shopping services, and the company has failed in its bid to overturn the ruling.The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice upheld a landmark 2017 decision that found the US tech giant had illegally used its search engine dominance to give its own product listings higher rankings.Margrethe Vestager, the European Union's antitrust commissioner, had made Google her top priority since taking office in 2014. Notably, on the same day, she also successfully overturned an Apple (AAPL.US) victory at a lower court over the Irish tech giant's 13bn euros ($14.4bn) tax bill.The EU's antitrust enforcement agency has focused on Google's search dominance, but the case involving shopping services was the first of three fines totalling more than 8bn euros.A Google spokesperson said the company was "disappointed" by the court's decision, saying the 2017 proposal to address the EU's concerns had helped bring more clicks to other shopping services.The company was hit with a record 4.3bn euros fine in 2018 for restricting contract terms that prevented tablet and phone makers from adding rival apps and web browsers to Android devices.Less than a year later, it was fined 1.49bn euros for exclusive online advertising deals through its AdSense for Search product.Crucially, the fourth, and possibly final, EU case against Google's business under Ms Vestager could bring the most dangerous penalty. The Danish commissioner has warned that the only way to correct the company's dominance in the advertising technology sector is to force it to split off its business in that area — a move that would put EU regulators on a similar path to the US Department of Justice, which is seeking a similar split.The EU's competition regulator hopes that Google's behaviour will be fully corrected by a new comprehensive law, the Digital Markets Act, which came into effect last year.