Platforms and Big Tech Tracker
Antitrust Investigations benchmark updated to reflect the EU Court of Justice’s decision to uphold the EC's fine against Google for self-preferencing in its Shopping service
We’ve updated the Antitrust Investigations benchmark within our Platforms and Big Tech Tracker to reflect the EU Court of Justice’s decision to uphold the EC’s €2.42bn (£2.11bn) fine against Google for abusing its dominant position by preferencing its own comparison shopping service. This decision concludes almost 14 years of legal dispute and represents the second largest antitrust fine ever handed out by the EU to a tech firm, only trailing the EC’s 2018 fine for Google’s anti-competitive conduct in the search services markets (€4.13bn). Google has been the target of five different antitrust investigations carried out by the EC since this case was opened in 2010.
According to our benchmark, of all jurisdictions, the EC has issued the highest total value of antitrust fines at approximately €8.74bn (£7.34bn), almost 60% of the total value of antitrust fines levied globally to date. This figure reflects the 18 September 2024 decision of the General Court of the European Union to annul a €1.49bn (£1.27bn) fine issued by the EC to Google for abusing its dominance in digital advertising. The EC currently has an additional three investigations pending as well as four underway through its DMA authority. Despite its reputation for more limited antitrust enforcement, the US has surpassed the EC as the jurisdiction with the most active big tech investigations currently underway, with a total of nine open cases into four companies (Amazon, Google, Meta and Apple).
Outside of the EU, Google has been the single most investigated big tech firm in the world. It has been the target of at least 39 (both open and closed) antitrust investigations across 14 different countries. 16 investigations have been carried out relating to the firm’s advertising conduct, including six that remain open in Canada, the EU, the UK and US. Google’s handling of consumer data has prompted eight other antitrust cases, three of which are still ongoing in Australia, Italy and the EU.
