Law Enforcement against Big Tech – Still a Fight against Windmills?

Time and again, US tech companies make headlines. Whether it is due to data protection issues, addictive features, or the abuse of market power.

In the series „(R)echt aktuell“ our legal researcher Charlotte Werther from the PriDI team monitors such investigations against technology companies and breaks them down in an accessible way, comprehensible also for non-legals. The series in in German only.

The PriDI team is currently reporting on two proceedings that require Google to make substantial payments. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) upheld a fine imposed by the European Commission, and a court in Sweden ordered Google to pay damages.

The CJEU Ruling

The CJEU dealt with Google’s pre-installation agreements and licensing conditions. Under these, the manufacturers of Android smartphones and mobile network operators who wanted to integrate Google services on Android devices always had to install an entire package of Google apps. This included the Google browser Chrome and Google search.

The European Commission considered this obligation to be an abuse of Google’s dominant market position and imposed a fine on Google. The CJEU has now upheld the fine in the amount of €4.1 billion (Case No.: C-738/22 PP).

The Proceedings in Sweden

In Sweden, a Swedish comparison portal had sued Google for damages. The background to this is that Google had favoured its own shopping services over those of other providers („self-preferencing“). The European Commission had likewise assessed this as an abuse of Google’s dominant market position. As a result of this abuse, the Swedish comparison portal suffered damage, which Google must now compensate.

The court in Sweden awarded the company damages in the amount of €1.7 billion. However, the ruling is not yet legally binding. Google can still appeal.

Google repeatedly faces investigations, fines and damages claims. As in the two proceedings mentioned above, fines imposed and damages awarded can be substantial. However, these proceeding do not seem to impress Google and other Big Tech companies.

Anyone who would like to read more about the two rulings and other proceedings against the major technology companies is encouraged to visit the German website of the PriDI Project.