Google must pay the €2.42bn fine issued by the European Commission in 2017 for abusing its dominant position by self-preferencing. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) announced its final decision on the Google Shopping Case today. Google cannot re-appeal.
Kelkoo Group CEO Rich Stables said: “Today is a victory for small tech and businesses like mine – and for everyone who believes in consumer welfare. We have waited seven long years for Google to exhaust the appeals process and it’s taken 14 years in total to get legal certainty.
“Google’s repeated appeals and failure to change its self-preferencing practices show its disdain for the very people it claims to be creating services for – consumers who have lost out on choice and the best deals in Shopping for over a decade, exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis – and small businesses like mine have been crushed. Today is also vindication for the European Commission.
“The ruling reinforces the precedent that “self-Google,” by dominant digital platforms constitutes a violation of EU competition law, as well as under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and marks a tougher stance on all future antitrust investigations.
“I urge the Commission to take this win into the room when it is implementing the DMA. It is a nimble and fast-acting regulatory tool that can help the Commission achieve its objective of a level playing field in digital markets.”
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