Google fights back against colossal €2.4 billion EU fine

Google has been battling with the EU for a few years now over various anti-trust concerns. At the moment, Google faces a hefty $2.6 billion (2.4 billion Euro) fine, which the company is still fighting. 

The fine was initially imposed back in 2017 and this week during a three-day hearing, Alphabet (Google's parent company), is arguing that the fine is excessive and unwarranted. As reported by Reuters, lawyers argued that the initial fine amount was conjured up to garner headlines but isn't justified “by the actual facts the case”.

Beyond that, Google maintains that a fine should not have been imposed in the first place, as previous case law apparently shows that Google's behaviour was not anti-competitive, nor did the company's market share in 13 countries justify the multiplier on the initial fine.

The EU argues that it was merely following its own rules when calculating the final fine amount. The three-day hearing has since come to an end and a ruling is expected at some point in the next year. If that goes against Google, then another appeal can be fined with the European Court of Justice.

KitGuru Says: Google is going to be fighting this fine until it runs out of options. While a 2.4 billion EUR fine might not hurt the company in the grand scheme of things, it is still a lot of money to pay out, particularly when many of the issues the EU had have since been resolved. It will be interesting to see where the ruling eventually lands when that time comes. 

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