Google has suffered a major setback in its long-running legal battle with European regulators after an adviser to the European Union’s top court recommended overturning a ruling that cancelled a €1.49 billion ($1.7 billion) antitrust fine against the technology giant.
Advocate General Juliane Kokott on Thursday faulted the General Court for annulling the penalty in 2024, arguing that the lower tribunal applied excessive requirements when assessing the duration and impact of Google’s contractual practices in the online advertising market.
She proposed that the Court of Justice of the European Union set aside the lower court’s judgment and send the case back for a fresh examination.
The dispute dates back to March 2019, when the European Commission, the EU’s competition watchdog, fined Google for allegedly abusing its dominant position in online search advertising through restrictive agreements with website publishers.
At the centre of the case is Google’s AdSense for Search service, which allows website operators with built-in search functions to display advertisements from Google when visitors conduct searches on their platforms. Publishers receive a share of the advertising revenue generated through the arrangement.
However, the Commission found that Google’s agreements contained clauses that restricted or prevented publishers from displaying advertisements from competing search advertising services.
The regulator identified three types of restrictions: exclusivity clauses that limited the use of rival advertising services, placement requirements that gave Google’s adverts prominent positions on websites, and prior authorisation provisions that required publishers to obtain Google’s approval before making changes affecting competing advertisements.
According to the Commission, the arrangements helped Google protect its position in the market by making it difficult for rival advertising providers to secure access to publishers’ websites.
The practices were found to have lasted between 2006 and 2016. Google removed or amended the disputed clauses in September 2016 after the European Commission began investigating the arrangements.
Google and its parent company, Alphabet, challenged the Commission’s decision before the EU General Court, which overturned the fine in September 2024. The tribunal concluded that the Commission had not sufficiently examined the circumstances surrounding the duration of the publisher agreements and had failed to adequately demonstrate the alleged anti-competitive effects.
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The European Commission subsequently appealed the decision, arguing that the lower court had wrongly assessed the evidence and failed to consider the cumulative impact of Google’s contractual restrictions.
In her opinion, Kokott said the General Court placed excessive emphasis on examining the duration of individual agreements rather than considering the wider effect of the arrangements and Google’s position in the market.
She argued that competition regulators should be able to assess how a network of similar agreements operates collectively, rather than being required to conduct an exhaustive examination of every individual contract to establish whether the practices restricted competition.
The adviser also maintained that the lower court did not sufficiently connect its conclusions on the duration of the agreements with other factors used to determine whether a company holds a dominant market position.
Her recommendation is significant because the Court of Justice usually follows the opinions of its advocates general, although their advice is not legally binding and the judges can reach a different conclusion.
Even if the court accepts Kokott’s recommendation, Google will not automatically be required to pay the original €1.49 billion penalty. The case would return to the General Court, which would have to reconsider the matter and examine Google’s remaining legal challenges, including its objections to the amount of the fine.
Kokott also indicated that any new penalty would have to be lower than the original amount because the General Court’s findings concerning the absence of demonstrated exclusionary effects in 2016 were not challenged by the European Commission on appeal.
The final judgment is expected next year.
The AdSense penalty is one of six major antitrust fines imposed on Google by European regulators over nearly two decades. Together, the penalties amount to €10.38 billion, reflecting the EU’s sustained scrutiny of the company’s business practices and its influence over digital markets.
The case, Commission v Google and Alphabet (Google AdSense), is registered as C-826/24 P before the Court of Justice of the European Union.
About the Author
Cecilia Attah is a tech analyst with a degree from Benue State University. She covers tech news and startups at TechRegard with a focus on how technology is transforming Africa and shaping the global landscape.
