The European Court of Justice confirmed a decision of the European Commission back in June 2017 when it ruled that Google had unfairly prioritised its own comparison shopping service over competitors’ in 13 countries within the European Economic Area (EEA). Google promoted its service with prominent display boxes featuring images and text, while rival services were relegated to basic blue links, often pushed down in search results by Google’s algorithms.
The Commission found Google had abused its dominant market position in online searches, imposing a fine of €2.42 billion, with Alphabet (Google’s parent company) jointly responsible for €523 million. Google and Alphabet appealed to the General Court of the European Union, which largely upheld the Commission’s decision in November 2021, though it did not find conclusive evidence that Google’s actions affected the general search market.
Google and Alphabet then appealed to the European Court of Justice. However, the Court dismissed the appeal, supporting the General Court’s ruling. The Court emphasised that EU law prohibits the abuse of a dominant position, particularly when it harms competition and consumers. It affirmed that, in this case, Google’s favouring of its own services was anti-competitive.
The Court of Justice dismissed the appeal, supporting the General Court’s ruling. It reiterated that under EU law, the mere existence of a dominant position is not unlawful, but the abusive exploitation of that position is. The Court clarified that exploitative behaviour, distinct from exclusionary behaviour in Competition Law, is prohibited when it hinders competition on the merits and is likely to cause harm to individual undertakings and consumers. In this case, Google’s favouring of its own services over competitors was deemed anti-competitive and not within the scope of fair market competition.