Google suffers setback as EU legal opinion backs record fine

Google suffered a legal blow at the European Court of Justice on Thursday, when the body's adviser recommended upholding a record fine imposed on the company for anti-competitive practices.

- AFP

The US tech giant has been trying to overturn on appeal a €4.3 billion (R89bn) 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 European Union (CJEU), said "the legal arguments put forward by Google are ineffective", the court later said in a statement.

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

The commission, the EU's antitrust regulator, had accused Google of abusing the popularity of its Android operating system to restrict competition.