Google accuses EU of overreach with Rs 2.4 bn shopping service abuse fine
Google accused the European Union of overreach by imposing a ₹2.4 billion ($2.6 billion) fine over how it favoured its own shopping services to the detriment of rivals.
The Alphabet Inc. unit can't be expected to treat its competitors the same as it does its own businesses, lawyers for the US tech giant argued before judges at the EU's highest court.
The 2017 penalty then a record for the bloc's antitrust watchdog was the first in a series of high profile cases where the European Commission sought to crackdown on the dominance of Silicon Valley firms in the region.
Google is appealing a 2021 ruling by the EU's lower court that backed the commission's decision that the firm violated antitrust rules by favoring its own shopping service over those of its rivals. It was forced to change the way it displays shopping search results that might help rivals grab some of the valuable ad space on search pages.
«Companies do not compete by treating competitors equally with themselves,» said Thomas Graf, a lawyer for Google at the EU's Court of Justice on Tuesday.
«The whole point of competition is for a company to differentiate itself from rivals. Not to align with rivals so that all are the same.»
The fine formed part of a trio of decisions that set the tone of EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager's bid split up the power of a handful of firms including Apple Inc.
and Facebook. Vestager's team has fined Google ₹8.3 billion in total, including for abuses of its dominance on its mobile operating system and its display advertising operations, all of which the company is appealing.
Vestager is currently on leave from the top antitrust job as she seeks the presidency of the European Investment Bank.
The commission on Tuesday
