Alphabet is asking Europe's top court to uphold the cancellation of a 1.49 billion euro antitrust fine. The European Commission imposed the penalty in 2019, alleging Google used restrictive clauses in publisher contracts to block rival search-ad providers tied to its AdSense business from 2006 to 2016. A lower EU court overturned the fine in 2024 after finding problems with the Commission's analysis, and regulators appealed that decision. Google's lawyer argued Wednesday that the Commission's latest arguments were flawed and that rivals still had meaningful opportunities to compete, while the Commission contended the lower court set an unrealistic standard for antitrust enforcement. The AdSense fine was one of four major EU penalties against Google totaling about 9.5 billion euros, and a court adviser is expected to issue a nonbinding opinion on November 12 with a final ruling to follow in the months after.
Alphabet Inc Class CEU lower court overturned $1.7B antitrust fine; Google argues to uphold that reversal.