Brussels accuses Google of abusing its dominant position and provokes the sale of part of its business | Economy

Google in the entire digital advertising chain. This has led, according to the European Commission, to the “abuse of a dominant position” by the US tech company. “This creates an inherent conflict of interest situation for Google. Hence, the preliminary opinion of the commission is that only Google’s withdrawal of compulsory investment for part of its services will solve competition problems.” The penalty and, at the same time, the proposed solution is the initial conclusion to which the company can make a claim…

Google in the entire digital advertising chain. This has led, according to the European Commission, to the “abuse of a dominant position” by the US tech company. “This creates an inherent conflict of interest situation for Google. Hence, the preliminary opinion of the commission is that only Google’s withdrawal of compulsory investment for part of its services will solve competition problems.” The penalty and, at the same time, the proposed solution is the initial conclusion to which the company can bring the allegations before they become final. Vice President and Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager denounced the presentation of the conclusions that “Google has unlawfully distorted the market.”

When the case was opened, two years ago, the size of the digital advertising market was estimated at €20,000 million. The competition department then explained that Google was at all levels of the advertising chain and that the technology company was favoring display advertising services over those of its competitors.

Brussels’ battles against the monopolistic practices of major US tech companies, especially Alphabet, are racking up billions of euros in fines. In the case of Google alone, the penalties amounted to more than 8,000 million since 2017. The largest penalties to date amounted to 4,342 million, an amount that was reduced by about 200 million by the General Court of the European Union last September. The final decision of the Court of Justice and Crime, the highest community judicial body, has not yet been issued.

This penalty on Google is the largest penalty for monopolistic practices. However, there is a larger penalty imposed on Apple and Ireland, although in this case it is due to the tax system of the British island. The committee demanded that the tech giant pay 14,300 million in return for the tax benefits achieved in Dublin. However, both Ireland and Apple appealed the community’s decision and were able to get the General Court to agree with them in the first place.

Recently, the fate of Commission decisions in European courts has been mixed. When it came to the penalties imposed by the competition administration for understanding that tax systems in some countries of the community, notably Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands, may constitute unjustified government assistance, the judges did not agree with him. It has had better luck in cases of monopolistic practices.

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