Google loses challenge against EU antitrust decision, other probes loom

Google suffered one of its biggest setbacks when a top European court upheld a ruling that it broke competition rules and fined it a record 4.1 billion euros, in a move that may encourage other regulators to ratchet up pressure on the US giant.

The unit of US tech giant Alphabet had challenged an EU antitrust ruling, but the decision was broadly upheld by Europe’s General Court, with the fine trimmed modestly to 4.125 billion euros ($4.13 billion) from 4.34 billion euros.

Even with the reduction, it was still a record fine for an antitrust violation. The EU antitrust enforcer has fined the world’s most popular internet search engine a total of 8.25 billion euros in three investigations stretching back more than a decade.