Google’s appeal to the historic antitrust fine issued to the company by the European Union is partially based on the argument that the political bloc’s decision ignored the existence of Amazon, eBay, and other shopping platforms in its entirety, the EU revealed as part of the latest iteration of its legal journal published on Monday. The details of Google’s complaint released by the EU also show that the tech giant remains adamant in its stance that group shopping suggestions in its Search results and prioritizing links to its own price comparison service wasn’t a move made in an attempt to drive more traffic to the platform at a direct expense of alternative solutions but a strategic decision intended to improve the overall quality of the Google Search engine.
The Mountain View, California-based internet firm also accused the European Commission of basing its decision on an unproven legal theory after initially seeking a compromise with the company and providing it with hints that the matter could be settled without a major financial penalty or any fine whatsoever. That purported state of affairs resulted in the EC violating the legal standards regulating its ability to assess Google’s justification(s) for displaying links to its online shopping service above items related to its competitors in Search results, the complaint reads, once again reiterating claims that Google’s practices weren’t discriminatory in any way and hence cannot constitute monopolistic behavior.
The company’s legal representatives said the EC’s order mandating changes to Google Search is essentially requiring the company to allow third parties to benefit from its “product improvements” and doesn’t account for the current state of the market, once again alluding to the existence of Amazon and similar platforms and suggesting that the European regulators were wrong to define Google Search as an ecosystem of its own when a significant number of shopping-related Internet searches originate on other platforms like Amazon and eBay. Alphabet’s subsidiary officially appealed the $2.8 billion fine six weeks ago and the case itself is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, with such legal procedures often taking over a decade before going through any significant developments, as suggested by Intel’s antitrust dispute with the EU which still isn’t close to conclusion more than ten years after the political bloc made its initial allegations against the chip giant.