EU v Google: Comparison Shopping

Case Study

Competition authorities have initiated several legal actions against Google LLC, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. While multiple decisions have emerged from these actions, a significant ruling was recently issued. On July 14, 2016, the European Commission commenced proceedings against Google for exploiting its dominance in the search engine services market to gain an unfair advantage in the comparison shopping services market. On June 26, 2017, the Commission imposed a fine of €2.42 billion on Google, and on November 10, 2021, the General Court upheld this fine. Ultimately, the Court of Justice confirmed the lower court's ruling.