(ConservativeHub.com) – It’s no secret Big Tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google hold enormous influence over their users, as they curate exactly what each person sees when scrolling their feed. However, regulators have been stepping up their game in recent years to crack down on monopolies and sketchy practices amongst the major companies. This week, Google lost a years-long battle to push back against these regulations.
On Wednesday, November 10, the European Union’s General Court ruled Google must pay a $2.8-billion fine the European Commission issued in 2017. Alphabet-unit Google broke antitrust rules “by favoring its own comparison shopping service on its general results pages through more favorable display and positioning,” according to a court release. The tech giant contested the claim, but this latest ruling suggested its pushback could be futile. While this is a big loss, they still have a chance to to appeal the ruling with the European Court of Justice.
Swiss-based private email server ProtonMail shared their excitement for the ruling on Twitter:
The EU is holding anti-competitive behavior accountable and we're here for it 👏 https://t.co/GVmhCmPOdJ
— ProtonMail (@ProtonMail) November 10, 2021
Through this ruling, the EU made clear it’ll hold Big Tech companies accountable for misleading advertising and skewing search results in their favor. If upheld, the ruling could ultimately benefit rival companies’ profits because Google must now give each company a fair spot in search analytics. Overall, it’s a huge win for the leaders fighting to keep major companies accountable for their choices.
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