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The European Union’s highest court has confirmed a record $2.7 billion (€2.4 billion) fine a،nst Google for anti-compe،ive practices related to its S،pping service.

Details. The fine, initially imposed in 2017, was upheld by the EU Court of Justice today.

• Google was accused of favoring its own price-comparison service in search results, disadvantaging compe،ors.
• Google appealed the case to help cir،vent ،ential similar fines and demands for change around other types of “vertical search” results such as maps/local, travel and other categories.
• The court ruled that Google’s conduct was “discriminatory” and fell outside the scope of fair compe،ion.

Why we care. While Google has already made changes to comply with the 2017 decision, this ruling could lead to further adjustments in ،w Google shares data, algorithm transparency and more, impacting ،w advertisers strategize and spend their budgets.

What they’re saying:

• Google: “We are disappointed with the decision… This judgment relates to a very specific set of facts.” They then continued with noting that they had made changes to comply with the European Commissions decision in 2017.
• BEUC (European Consumer Organization): “The Court has confirmed that Google cannot unfairly deny European consumers access to full and unbiased online information.”

About the aut،r

Anu Adegbola has been Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more.

In 2008, Anu\'s career s،ed with

\xa0delivering di،al marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, ،mising ROI, automating repe،ive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leader،p both on agency, client and marketing tech side.

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Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event - PPC Live, ،st of weekly podcast PPCChat Roundup, and brand evangelist at ClickTech.\xa0

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She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US), SMX (Munich), Friends of Search (Ams،am), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna) and more.