Google set back in record fine backing

GOOGLE suffered a legal blow at the European Court of Justice yesterday, when the body’s advisor recommended upholding a record fine imposed on the company for anti-competitive practices.

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The US tech giant has been prying to overturn on appeal a €4.3-billion fine imposed by the European Commission in 2018, which was later reduced to €4,1bn.

But in its opinion, Juliane Kokott, advocate general at the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), said “the legal arguments put forward by Google are ineffective’, the court later said.

Although not binding, such advice carries weight and is often followed by EU judges in their rulings.

The commission, the EU’s anti-trust regulator, had accused Google of abusing the popularity of its Android operating system to restrict competition.