https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-loses-eu-shopping-ads-case-appeal-11636539480?st=ezj3g1wp6x9elvq&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
After a contentious battle, the EU General Court's commissioner for competition, Margrethe Vestager, has won a case against Google (or, as we are prompted to refer to the company now, Alphabet...) The findings of a 2017 antitrust probe were largely confirmed through the ruling, meaning that Google will face a charge of 2.8 billion dollars.
What did Google do wrong? According to the case, Google's search engine had functioned in a way to thwart competition by favoring its own comparison-shopping advertisements. Surprised? Not really - Google's business model has since day 1 prompted critics to think about competition in a new light, especially as it relates to the internet and online market places.
That being said, the ruling is a nod towards the direction that governing bodies like the EU General Court would like to continue towards: regulating big tech. Ms. Verstager's efforts to protect competition will be in full force as the EU currently debates the online-competition bill called the Digital Markets Act. The bill in a nutshell would protect smaller players from being undercut by large tech giants in acting more favorably towards their own products than those of the third parties.
All in all, an eventful week in Big Tech! Watch this space...
No comments:
Post a Comment