For about seven years now, Google has been fighting a multibillion-dollar fine levied by the European Union. The EU found that Google favored its own shopping service over that of its competitors in search results, and it looks like the antitrust bill has come due: The EU’s highest court announced Tuesday that it is dismissing Google’s appeal. The decision comes as Google grapples with a number of antitrust legal challenges in the U.S. as well.
The 2.4 billion euro fine comes out to about $2.7 billion, which might not seem so much in Google dollars, but it’s only one part of the tech behemoth’s costs.
“From lawyers to PR to everything else, it’s very expensive,” said Rebecca Haw Allensworth, a professor of antitrust law at Vanderbilt University. And it’s not just Google that will be affected by this decision.
“If it’s expensive and bad for Google, that means other companies who are looking at it are trying not to be the next Google and therefore acting in ways that are less abusive of their dominance,” Allensworth said.
Also paying attention: U.S. regulators. Allensworth said there’s a kind of regulatory competition between the U.S and the EU, which is known for taking a tough stance on antitrust matters.
“Everyone’s kind of trying to be the leader in antitrust enforcement,” she said.
Europe’s approach is shaping the tech policy debate here, said Jennifer Huddleston, a senior fellow in technology policy at the Cato Institute.
“The kind of question of, ‘Do we need greater regulation in this area?’ has emerged at times on both the left and the right,” she said.
Huddleston, a proponent of a light-touch regulatory system, worries about the effect a heavier hand could have on innovation in the U.S.
“What [message] does that send to the next generation of innovators and to the next generation of entrepreneurs?” she asked.
But some feel the U.S. should create new laws around technology or it risks being left behind, said former Federal Communications Commission Chair Tom Wheeler. “Because the internet means the world is interconnected, the rules that apply in the EU or the U.K. also end up having an effect in the United States,” he said.
The antitrust laws we have aren’t enough, Wheeler said.
“You need broad policies that deal with the behaviors across a broad segment of the economy,” he said — not just targeted investigations.
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