Google Fines: The EU Treats Us Like Criminals

Google accuses the European Commission of having imposed a “quasi-criminal fine of very large proportions” on the company. Moreover, this is based on an incorrect analysis of the contractual clauses and the market situation. According to a report from the US news agency, this was brought by lawyers for the group Bloomberg before the General Court of the European Union, hearing an appeal from Google against a 2019 decision of the EU Commissioner for Competition.

Google had sentenced Google to a fine of 1.49 billion euros because the American group would have impeded competitors in the field of online advertising with unfair means. The case is the latest in a series of three competition proceedings that EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager is using to curb Google’s market power and the resulting effects. The fines here already amount to about 9 billion euros.

Google again and again

From the point of view of the EU Commission, Google, like other products of the group, does not limit itself to leading them to success with its inherent advantages. Instead, the company repeatedly uses the concomitant effects of market dominance or the market power of other business services to expand and consolidate its own position.

Online advertising includes clauses that prohibit website operators from placing ads from other ad networks if they also want to place Google ads on their sites. Given Google’s dominant position in this area, this is a clear restriction of competition – at least that’s how it is seen in Brussels. At the company, on the other hand, people feel that they are unjustly restricted in their free pursuit of business.