Court of Justice Decisions Continue EU Attacks on US Tech, Says ITIF

WASHINGTON—Following the judgment by the European Union’s Court of Justice affirming the €2.4 billion fine imposed by the European Commission on Google for preferencing its own shopping services in its general search results, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, released the following statement from Joseph V. Coniglio, director of antitrust and innovation, leading ITIF’s Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy:

While not surprising, the Court of Justice’s ruling in the long-running Google Shopping case rubberstamps a theory of harm that would not pass muster under U.S. antitrust law, which protects consumers and competition rather than competitors.

There is no sound basis for thinking that Google’s behavior gave the company dominance in online comparison shopping services. Amazon, eBay, and many other platforms more than constrain any power Google could have obtained in this space.

Moreover, not only was there no finding that Google’s behavior excluded as efficient rivals, but Google put forward strong objective justifications for its practices that should have been sufficient to defeat the Commission’s claims.

The Shopping case is one of three major ongoing antitrust lawsuits against Google in Europe. If the Commission gets its way, Google will have to pay over €8 billion in fines. That is not about remedying supposed anticompetitive conduct, but rather punishing one of the most successful American companies, including for behavior already banned by the Digital Markets Act.

Indeed, the Court of Justice’s decision against Google comes in tandem with a second ruling requiring Apple to pay €13 billion in claimed unpaid taxes. Taken together, the decisions send a signal to large American technology firms that Europe is not a pro-business environment.

With yesterday’s release of the Draghi Report, which highlights the failures of European economic policy to drive innovation and spur the creation of its own leading digital firms, the Court of Justice’s decisions reflect a fundamental disconnect between the current state of competition law enforcement and the pressing need to support innovation and productivity growth in Europe.

Contact: Sydney Mack, [email protected]