Google is facing one of its worst weeks in Europe. The company is fighting to overturn a $1.7 billion fine in court, bracing for new sanctions from the European Union, and facing a scathing report about how its artificial intelligence treats children.
At Europe’s top court on Wednesday, Google asked the European Union Court of Justice to reject EU competition regulators’ appeal against a lower court’s 2024 ruling that overturned a €1.49 billion fine.
The court of first instance said that the organizers had made mistakes in building their case. Now the European Commission wants to overturn this ruling.
The original dispute concerned the Google AdSense advertising platform.
Between 2006 and 2016, the Commission accused Google of using restrictive contractual terms to prevent competing companies from placing search ads on third-party sites. Regulators issued a fine of €1.49 billion in 2019.
Google dropped the disputed terms in 2016, however The committee went ahead with the penalty anyway.
In court on Wednesday, Google’s lawyer, Josh Holmes, defended the lower court’s decision, saying its justifications were “clear and complete.”
He said regulators ignored evidence showing competitors had real and meaningful opportunities to win business. Commission attorney Anthony Dawes responded forcefully.
“This finding turns case law on its head,” he said, arguing that the ruling would effectively treat exclusivity clauses as legal by default and place an unfair burden on regulators.
A court counsel is scheduled to issue a non-binding opinion on November 12. A final ruling will follow. This case is part of a much longer battle.
Google The EU-EU has been at loggerheads over antitrust issues for nearly two decades, costing the company billions along the way.
New fines on the horizon
As the dispute continues… Google faces another challenge. Internal documents released by the European Commission indicate that EU regulators are preparing to issue new sanctions against the company next week under the Digital Markets Act.
The legislation has been introduced to impose stricter obligations on the largest technology platforms and ensure they follow stricter competition rules.
Upcoming fines could reach hundreds of millions of euros. Additionally, Google may face ongoing daily penalties if you fail to make the required changes within a 60-day time limit.
The new procedure covers two areas. In the first case, the Commission is expected to find that Google was unfairly promoting its own shopping, travel and other services over its competitors in search results.
In the second case, regulators want the Google Play Store to give app developers more freedom to direct users toward competing platforms.
Under the Digital Markets Act, companies can be fined up to 10% of their total global revenue. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, generated revenue of $402.83 billion last year.
Google said it was “eager to conclude these investigations so we can get back to developing innovative products for our users.”
The company also criticized the changes it had already made under the DMA, calling them “the biggest downgrade in the product’s history” and saying they had created “a second-rate experience for Europeans for the benefit of a few self-interested complainants.”
AI safety concerns for children
The children’s digital safety group has expressed serious concerns about Google’s AI tools, adding to the pressure.
According to research Published by Common Sense MediaGoogle’s AI is of particular concern because it is “ubiquitous on children’s personal devices and school devices,” with Chromebook computers being frequently used in classrooms.
The study discovered that young users experienced serious problems with Google’s “AI Mode” chatbot and its automatic “AI Overview” feature, which appears in Google search results. Students’ homework will be completed by artificial intelligence, which often provides inconsistent or incorrect responses.
Most worryingly, the investigation found the system “failed children in crisis, including missing clear signs of suicidal ideation, enhanced signs of psychosis and mania, validation of disordered eating including purging and partying with cannabis use.”
Google’s AI features did not meet seven out of eight child safety standards the group tested. Furthermore, neither AI Mode nor AI Overview can be turned off, leaving kids in school and on personal devices with no way to opt out.
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