Google (GOOGL.US) wins €1.5bn EU antitrust case over online ads

Google (GOOGL.US) won a 1.5bn euro (US$1.7bn) advertising antitrust case, partially offsetting its defeat in another abuse of dominance case last week. The judge at the General Court of the European Union upheld the company's challenge to the 2019 fine, saying regulators had made errors in their investigation. Google was fined 1.5bn euros for allegedly illegally blocking rivals such as Yahoo and Microsoft from placing ads on third-party websites. The decision can still be appealed to the European Court of Justice, the bloc's highest court. The decision comes after two victories for Ms Vestager, the EU competition commissioner, who last week saw Apple (AAPL.US) and Google lose two of the biggest cases in the history of the bloc. Apple failed in its appeal against a 13bn euro (US$14.4bn) Irish tax bill and Google faced a 2.4bn euro fine for abusing its search market power. Meta Platforms (META.US) is also facing a huge fine from the EU for allegedly monopolising the classified ads market, according to people familiar with the matter. The earliest decision could come next month, marking one of the last investigations under Ms Vestager's tenure.