London: Google‘s legal battle with the European Union reached a conclusion on Tuesday as the company lost its final appeal against a massive antitrust fine. The penalty, amounting to 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion), stems from a case where Google was found guilty of manipulating its search results to give its own shopping service an unlawful advantage over competitors.

The European Court of Justice, the highest judicial authority in the EU, upheld a previous ruling by the General Court, dismissing Google’s appeal. The court reiterated that Google had engaged in anti-competitive practices by unfairly promoting its Google Shopping platform in search results, while pushing down listings from rival comparison shopping services.

“By today’s judgment, the Court of Justice dismisses the appeal and thus upholds the judgment of the General Court,” the court said in a press release summarising its decision.

A Landmark Decision in Antitrust Enforcement

The case, originally brought to light in 2017 by the European Commission, marked a pivotal moment in the EU’s efforts to regulate the tech industry. The Commission accused Google of leveraging its dominance in the search engine market to prioritise its own shopping service, effectively stifling competition. The fine was one of three major penalties imposed on Google by the EU over the past decade as regulators in Brussels ramped up efforts to rein in the power of Big Tech.

In response to the Commission’s ruling, Google implemented changes to its platform, including holding auctions for shopping ads, in which both Google and its competitors could bid. Despite these modifications, Google pursued legal recourse to challenge the fine. However, in 2021, the EU’s General Court upheld the Commission’s decision, leading to Google’s final appeal being rejected this week.

Google’s Ongoing Legal Struggles

This ruling is not the end of Google’s antitrust woes in Europe. The company is still appealing two other substantial fines. The first, involving the Android mobile operating system, saw Google hit with a record-breaking 4.125 billion euro penalty, which was upheld by the General Court in 2022. The second case involves Google’s AdSense platform, where the company was fined 1.49 billion euros for restricting competition in the online advertising space, a decision still pending appeal.

These cases were just the beginning of what has become a broader regulatory crackdown on major tech companies globally. In recent years, the European Union has intensified its scrutiny of the industry, launching new investigations and drafting legislation aimed at curbing the influence of large tech platforms. Laws targeting social media governance and artificial intelligence regulation are among the latest efforts to ensure fair competition and transparency within the digital economy.

Google Under Fire Globally

While the European case was a significant blow to Google, the company is also under pressure on other fronts. In the United States, Google is facing a major antitrust trial brought by the Department of Justice. The federal case, which kicked off this week, accuses Google of maintaining a monopoly in the digital advertising sector—an industry that generates the bulk of the company’s revenue.

Meanwhile, British regulators have also launched their own investigation into Google’s advertising practices, accusing the company of abusing its dominant position in the ad tech market. The European Union is conducting a parallel inquiry into similar allegations.

Google’s legal battles over antitrust violations are far from over, with cases spanning continents and involving billions in penalties. This latest ruling by the European Court of Justice marks a definitive end to one of the most high-profile antitrust cases of the last decade, setting a precedent for future regulatory actions against tech giants. As the global landscape of digital regulation continues to evolve, Google and other major tech companies will likely remain in the crosshairs of governments seeking to curb their market dominance.