(CNBC) The EU’s General Court has ruled in favor of the European Commission in a contested antitrust fine of 2.42 billion euros or $2.8 billion by search giant Google.
The General Court ruled that Google departed from fair competition rules by directing users towards its comparison-shopping ads.
The court said the EU’s antitrust authorities did not sufficiently prove that Google’s conduct hurt competition among general search engines.
The ruling by the EU’ second highest court forms a landmark moment in the region’s anti- monopoly regulations that could also impact other major tech firms.
EU regulators are also exploring a potential restriction on target-advertising to strengthen user privacy, in what could be another blow to big tech.
Google can still appeal the ruling to the highest court in the EU land.
GOOGL: NASDAQ is down -0.97%
