Joseph V. Coniglio
The EU’s latest antitrust investigation against Google misreads competitive AI markets, risks politicized enforcement, and could heighten transatlantic tensions amid intensifying US–China technological rivalry.
There are few real certainties in life. Two of the most famous are death and taxes. Another, less obvious verity is that every five years, the European Union (EU) opens a major antitrust investigation into Google.
In 2010, the European Commission began scrutinizing Google Search for allegedly favoring its own shopping services, an inquiry that produced a €2.42 billion penalty, as well as ultimately an investigation into Google’s search advertising business, which led to the Commission issuing a second €1.49 billion fine. Then, in 2015, the Commission launched yet another antitrust probe, this time targeting Google’s Android agreements. That case yielded a staggering over €4 billion judgment, the largest antitrust fine the Commission has ever imposed. And in 2021—after a brief delay while the Commission was busy separately reviewing Google’s acquisition of Fitbit—the EU commenced an investigation into Google’s ad tech suite, resulting in a €2.95 billion fine issued this past September
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