Google loses appeal against EU’s €2.4B Shopping antitrust decision, as bloc also wins Apple state aid appeal

Google has once again lost in its bid to overturn a 2017 antitrust decision by the European Commission. The bloc found its shopping comparison service had broken competition rules — hitting Alphabet, Google’s parent, with an at-the-time record-breaking €2.42 billion penalty (around $2.7 billion at current exchange rates) and ordering changes to how it operates the service.

Google appealed the decision and, in November 2021, the General Court of the European Union largely dismissed the challenge. It confirmed that self-preferencing its own shopping service in general search results was anti-competitive, harming rival shopping comparison services, and upholding the Commission’s penalty. However, the Court did find the Commission had not established that Google’s conduct could have had anticompetitive effects on the market for general search services as a whole — hence annulling that portion of the finding.

Google appealed against the EU’s decision a second time, petitioning the EU’s highest court — the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) — which on Tuesday handed down another ruling that won’t be to the search giant’s liking.

The CJEU agreed with the General Court’s analysis. “[I]n light of the characteristics of the market and the specific circumstances of the case, Google’s conduct was discriminatory and did not fall within the scope of competition on the merits,” the court wrote in a press release.

Contacted for a response, Google spokesman Rory O’Donoghue emailed a company statement in which it expresses disappointment with the ruling. “We are disappointed with the decision of the Court. This judgment relates to a very specific set of facts. We made changes back in 2017 to comply with the European Commission’s decision. Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services.” 

This could be the end of the road for Google’s appeal against the Shopping decision as it may only seek to challenge the CJEU on a point of law.

The tech giant has filed several other appeals against additional Commission antitrust decisions. In September 2022, it lost another major appeal when the EU’s General Court largely confirmed the bloc’s €4.34 billion antitrust fine related to how the tech giant operates its Android mobile platform.

CJEU: Apple owes $15B in Irish back taxes & fees

In separate CJEU news, the Court handed down another decision in the Commission’s favor on Tuesday. This one loops in Apple as it’s related to a 2016 decision by the bloc that Apple benefited from illegal tax breaks in Ireland, between 1991 and 2014, and should have paid billions more in taxes. By September 2018 the iPhone maker had had to wire $15B in back taxes and penalties to the EU. However in July 2020 Apple (and Ireland) won an appeal against when the General Court. It annulled the EU’s decision.

The Commission appealed that reversal and on Tuesday the CJEU set aside the General Court’s judgement, finding — to the contrary — that Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which the country is required to recover.

Apple and Ireland may only appeal the CJEU decision on a point of law.

Reached for comment on the State Aid ruling, Apple spokesman Tom Parker emailed TechCrunch a statement in which the company writes: “This case has never been about how much tax we pay, but which government we are required to pay it to. We always pay all the taxes we owe wherever we operate and there has never been a special deal. Apple is proud to be an engine of growth and innovation across Europe and around the world, and to consistently be one of the largest taxpayers in the world. The European Commission is trying to retroactively change the rules and ignore that, as required by international tax law, our income was already subject to taxes in the US. We are disappointed with today’s decision as previously the General Court reviewed the facts and categorically annulled this case.”

The Commission’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, is due to hold a press conference later today on both decisions so the bloc’s press unit was refraining from commenting ahead of that.