Google asks EU top court to reject appeal over €1.49 billion AdSense fine
Alphabet-owned Google has asked Europe’s highest court to reject the European Commission’s appeal against the cancellation of a €1.49 billion ($1.7 billion) antitrust fine, arguing that the regulator’s latest claims are legally unsound, Reuters reported.
The dispute is now before the Court of Justice of the European Union after the European Commission challenged a 2024 General Court judgment that set aside the penalty imposed on Google in 2019. The lower court had ruled that the Commission made errors in its assessment of the case.
The Commission has alleged that Google inserted restrictive provisions in agreements with publishers that stopped competing companies from placing search advertisements on those websites. According to the regulator, these practices strengthened Google’s position in the online search advertising market.
The Commission said the conduct continued between 2006 and 2016. Google’s AdSense platform, which provides search advertising services, removed the disputed contractual clauses from publisher agreements in 2016.
Appearing before a five-judge panel, Google’s lawyer Josh Holmes defended the lower court’s ruling. “The Commission’s new arguments are flawed. The General Court’s reasons are clear and complete,” Holmes told the court.
Holmes also argued that the Commission failed to consider evidence indicating Google’s competitors had significant opportunities to compete in the market.
Representing the Commission, lawyer Anthony Dawes criticised the General Court’s judgment, saying it created an unprecedented requirement for regulators to revisit legal issues that had already been settled through existing case law.
“This finding turns case law on its head,” Dawes said, adding that the lower court’s reasoning would effectively make exclusive contractual clauses lawful by default.
A court adviser is expected to deliver a non-binding opinion on November 12, with the court’s final judgment likely to follow in the months after.
The AdSense case is one of four EU antitrust penalties imposed on Google, amounting to €9.5 billion over its long-running dispute with the European Commission. The General Court’s decision to cancel the AdSense fine marked an uncommon defeat for the EU competition watchdog.
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First Published on July 15, 2026, 17:17:11 IST
