Setback for Google as EU Court adviser backs $1.7 billion antitrust fine

BRUSSELS, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Google suffered a setback on Thursday as an adviser to Europe's top court faulted a lower tribunal's decision to scrap a €1.49 billion ($1.7 billion) fine levied against the US tech giant seven years ago for anti-competitive practices related to online advertising.

The General Court rejected the EU decision in 2024, prompting the Commission to appeal to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union.

The European Commission, the EU's competition watchdog, in its 2019 finding said Google used restrictive clauses in contracts with publishers that prevented rivals from placing search advertisements on the publishers' websites, reinforcing Google's dominance in online search advertising.

It said the practices ran from 2006 to 2016. Google, whose AdSense platform provides search advertising, removed the contested clauses from publisher agreements in 2016.

Advocate General Kokott said the General Court thereby imposed excessive requirements as to the scope of the examination of the criterion of duration and did not sufficiently relate its conclusion to the assessment of the criteria determining whether a company holds a dominant position.

The court, which usually follows the majority of such recommendations, will rule next year.

The AdSense fine was one of six EU antitrust penalties that have cost Google €10.38 billion over nearly two decades. 

The case is C-826/24 P Commission v Google and Alphabet (Google AdSense).

($1 = 0.9027 euros)

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, editing by Inti Landauro)