An EU antitrust fine of 2.42 billion euros ($2.7 billion) on Alphabet's unit should be upheld by Europe's highest court, the court's counsel said on Thursday, dealing a potential blow to the world's most popular Internet search engine, writes UNN citing Reuters.
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The European Commission fined the company in 2017 for using its own price comparison service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European competitors.
The shopping case was the first of three EU rulings that have resulted in Google being fined a total of €8.25 billion over the past decade.
Juliana Kokott, Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), said judges must approve the fine.
"Google, as established by the (Euro)Commission and confirmed by the General Court, used its dominant position in the market for general search services to favor its own price comparison service in preference to the display of its results," it said.
Judges who follow most of these non-binding recommendations will issue their rulings in the coming months. In 2021, a lower court sided with the EU competition authority.
Google said it would review the opinion and await the court's decision.
"Regardless of the appeal, we continue to invest in our remedy, which has been successful for several years, and will continue to work constructively with the European Commission," the spokesperson said.
EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager plans to meet with Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and other leaders of major tech companies in the U.S. later Thursday to discuss competition and digital issues.
Google also challenged two other decisions involving the Android mobile operating system and the AdSense advertising service.
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