Google is facing a major antitrust lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and eight state attorneys general. They allege that the tech giant is running an illegal monopoly in the digital advertising market. This is the third antitrust lawsuit filed against Google since October 2020. This reflects a growing unease with Google’s huge profits and widespread reach. This also reveals the growing dissatisfaction towards Silicon Valley. The lawsuit alleges that Google has used anti-competitive, exclusionary and unlawful conduct to eliminate or severely reduce any threat to its monopoly in the digital advertising market. The lawsuit seeks to force Google to reduce its monopolistic grip on the market and restore competition to digital advertising. One of the areas where Google has been accused of monopolistic practices is the Google Shopping platform.
In 2017, the European Union fined Google $2.6 billion for antitrust violations related to Google Shopping. The reason for the ban is that Google is unfairly promoting its own shopping comparison service compared to competitors. Google has made changes to the platform to address these concerns. However, the company is now making a last-ditch effort to reverse this decision.
Google’s appeal
Google has appealed the EU decision to the European Court of Justice. The company argues that the decision was flawed and did not violate any antitrust laws. The company is making this last-ditch effort in Europe’s highest court, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The appeal aims to overturn the $2.6 billion fine.
Google appealed the EU’s decision to the General Court, the EU’s intermediate court. In November 2021, the General Court rejected Google’s appeal. Google then appealed to the Court of Justice, the EU’s highest court. Although the company claims that it has done nothing wrong, it has made some changes to the Google Shopping platform. This is to address concerns raised by the EU.
Google has argued that the changes it has made to the platform have increased competition. It has also been claimed that the platform is now more open to third-party sellers. The company has also argued that the EU’s decision was based on outdated assumptions about the online shopping market. Google claims that the decision fails to take into account the rapid changes that have occurred in the market since the investigation began.
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Google’s lawyer speaks
At today’s hearing at the Court of Justice of the European Union, Google’s lawyer Thomas Graf said the European Commission failed to prove that Google’s differential treatment of competitors was an abuse. He claims that the “differential treatment” was not itself anti-competitive behavior.
Graff said: “Generally if there is competition between brands, they certainly will not treat their competitors the same way they treat themselves. On the contrary, they will treat them differently. For a company, competition means differentiating itself from its rivals…”
Graf also said: “Defining every differential treatment, particularly for first-party and third-party brands, as an abuse is unfair and will stifle competition and undermine the ability to innovate.”
The European Commission’s lawyer, Fernando Castillo de la Torre, refuted Google’s argument, saying that Google used its algorithms to unfairly advantage its own shopping service, Google Shopping, which violates EU antitrust laws. There is a violation.
“Google may use its algorithms to reduce the visibility of results that are less relevant to users’ queries,” Fernando said. “But they do not have the right to use their dominance in search to promote search results from their own services while reducing their competitors’ visibility in search results rankings.”
What does Google have to prove?
To overturn the EU decision, Google would have to prove that the decision was flawed and that the company did not violate any antitrust laws. The company will have to show that it has made good changes to the Google Shopping platform to address the concerns raised by the EU. It should also show that these changes have increased competition in the market.
Google must also demonstrate that the EU decision was based on outdated assumptions about the online shopping market and that the decision fails to take into account the rapid changes that have occurred in the market since the investigation began. The company will need to provide evidence to support these claims and convince the European Court that the decision should be overturned.
conclusion
Google is facing a major antitrust lawsuit alleging that the company operates an illegal monopoly in the digital advertising market. The lawsuit seeks to force Google to reduce its monopolistic hold on the market and restore competition to digital advertising. Google is also making a last-ditch effort to overturn the European Union’s decision to fine the company $2.6 billion for antitrust violations related to Google Shopping. To overturn the decision, Google would have to prove that the decision was flawed and that the company did not violate any antitrust laws. The outcome of these legal battles will have a significant impact on the future of competition in the digital advertising and online shopping markets.
The EU Court of Justice will deliver a final ruling on the case in the coming months. In addition to the Google Shopping service, Google’s other two services, Android and Google AdSense advertising services, have also been affected by the EU antitrust fine, and Google has also appealed. In these three antitrust cases, Google Shopping was fined 2.42 billion euros, Google AdSense advertising service was fined 1.49 billion euros, and Android was fined 4.34 billion euros.