Google, Apple lose EU appeals, to pay billions in fines

Google lost its last bid to overturn a European Union antitrust penalty, after the bloc’s top court ruled against it Tuesday on a case that came with a whopping fine and helped jumpstart an era of intensifying scrutiny for Big Tech companies.

The European Union’s top court rejected Google’s appeal against the 2.4 billion euro (USD 2.7 billion) penalty from the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s top antitrust enforcer, for violating antitrust rules with its comparison shopping service.

Also Tuesday, Apple lost its challenge against an order to repay 13 billion euros (USD 14.34 billion) in back taxes to Ireland, after the European Court of Justice issued a separate decision siding with the commission in a case targeting unlawful state aid for global corporations.

Both companies have now exhausted their appeals in the cases that date back to the previous decade. Together, the court decisions are a victory for European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who’s expected to step down next month after 10 years as the commission’s top official overseeing competition.

The shopping fine was one of three huge antitrust penalties that the commission hit Google with, which together ushered in the current wave of stepped-up efforts to regulate tech companies.