GOOGLE LOSES FINAL EU COURT APPEAL AGAINST 2.4 BILLION EURO FINE IN ANTITRUST SHOPPING CASE

Google lost its final legal challenge this week against a European Union penalty for giving its own shopping recommendations an illegal advantage over rivals in search results, ending a long-running antitrust case that came with a whopping fine.

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The European Union's Court of Justice upheld a lower court's decision, rejecting the company's appeal against the 2.4 billion euro ($2.7 billion) penalty from the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc's top antitrust enforcer.

“By today’s judgment, the Court of Justice dismisses the appeal and thus upholds the judgment of the General Court,” the court said in a press release summarizing its decision.

The commission punished the Silicon Valley giant in 2017 for unfairly directing visitors to its own Google Shopping service to the detriment of competitors. It was one of three multibillion-euro fines that the commission imposed on Google in the previous decade as Brussels started ramping up its crackdown on the tech industry.

“We are disappointed with the decision of the Court, which relates to a very specific set of facts,” Google said in a brief statement.