Google loses final EU court appeal over £2bn fine in shopping competition case

Google broke EU antitrust rules for abusing its search engine dominance to unfairly promote its own comparison shopping service

Google has lost its final legal challenge against a European Union penalty for giving its own shopping recommendations an unlawful advantage over rivals in search results, ending a long-running competition case that came with a huge fine.

The European Union’s Court of Justice upheld a lower court’s decision, dismissing the company’s appeal against the 2.4 billion euro (£2 billion) penalty from the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s top competition watchdog.

This latest blow for Google comes after a US court ruled last month that Google has been acting unlawfully by monopolising the internet search market.

The Commission found that Google had abused its dominance in the search engine market to illegally deny rival comparison shopping services the possibility to compete fairly in 13 countries in the European Economic Area – including the United Kingdom.

Google Shopping is the service that appears at the top of the search results page when you’re searching for a product. 

The court ruling confirmed that Google unfairly favoured its own comparison shopping service to deny consumers access to full and unbiased online information about where to find the best deals.

The European consumer organisation, BEUC, said the ruling was ‘crucially important for Europe’s consumers’. BEUC’s Director General Agustín Reyna said: 

‘Google harmed millions of European consumers by ensuring that rival comparison shopping services were virtually invisible. 

‘Google’s illegal practices prevented consumers from accessing potentially cheaper prices and useful product information from rival comparison shopping services on all sorts of products, from clothes to washing machines.’

BEUC represents the interests of consumer groups in 31 European countries.

Google fined £2bn fine in EU shopping case

The commission’s original decision in 2017 accused Google of unfairly directing visitors to its own Google Shopping service to the detriment of competitors. The Commission fined Google €2.4 billion, a record fine at the time.

It was one of three multibillion-euro fines that the commission imposed on Google in the previous decade as Brussels started ramping up its crackdown on the tech industry.

The tech giant appealed against the fine. In its dismissal of Google’s appeal, the EU General Court said: 

‘By favouring its own comparison shopping service on its general results pages through more favourable display and positioning, while relegating the results from competing comparison services in those pages by means of ranking algorithms, Google departed from competition on the merits.’ 

Reyna, director general of BEUC, added: ‘The Court ruling is a confirmation that EU competition law remains highly relevant in digital markets. 

‘Competition law must continue to strictly apply to big tech’s online exploitation of consumer behaviour.’

Google faces two consumer compensation claims

Google is facing two claims in the UK that accuse the company of impacting consumers’ ability to get the best deals on the products and services they buy.

My own £7 billion lawsuit accuses Google of behaving anti-competitively to shut out competition in search to the detriment of UK consumers. A hearing to decide whether the claim will go to trial will take place next week.

Consumer tech policy expert, Liz Coll, has a £920 million claim against Google for restrictions in its Google Play Store that have led to consumers being overcharged for apps and digital content. The trial starts in October 2025.

Crackdown on Google’s digital advertising business

Google is facing pressure over its digital advertising business. In a federal competition trial set to begin on Monday, the US Department of Justice alleges the company holds a monopoly in the ‘ad tech’ industry.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority last week accused Google of abusing its dominance to favour its own ad tech services in open-display advertising, while the EU competition regulator is carrying out its own investigation.

Google faces a £13 billion claim seeking compensation for UK publishers over allegations it behaved anti-competitively in the ad tech space.