Google, Apple to Pay Billions in Fines and Back Taxes After EU Rejects Their Final Appeals

London: Google lost its last bid to overturn a European Union antitrust penalty, after bloc's top court ruled against it Tuesday on a case that came with a whopping fine and helped jumpstart an era of intensifying scrutiny for Big Tech companies.

European Union's top court rejected Google's appeal against 2.4 billion euro (USD 2.7 billion) penalty from European Commission, 27-nation bloc's top antitrust enforcer, for violating antitrust rules with its comparison shopping service.

Also Tuesday, Apple lost its challenge against an order to repay 13 billion euros (USD 14.34 billion) in back taxes to Ireland, after European Court of Justice issued a separate decision siding with commission in a case targeting unlawful state aid for global corporations.

Both companies have now exhausted ir appeals in cases that date back to previous dece. Toger, court decisions are a victory for European Commissioner Margre Vestager, who's expected to step down next month after 10 years as commission's top official overseeing competition .

shopping fine was one of three huge antitrust penalties that commission hit Google with, which toger ushered in current wave of stepped-up efforts to regulate tech companies.

"By today's judgment, Court of Justice dismisses appeal and thus upholds judgment of General Court," court said in a press release summarising its decision.

commission punished Silicon Valley giant in 2017 for unfairly directing visitors to its own Google Shopping service to detriment of competitors.

“We are disappointed with decision of Court, which relates to a very specific set of facts,” Google said in a brief statement.

company said it me changes to comply with commission's decision requiring it to treat competitors equally. It started holding auctions for shopping search listings that it would bid for alongside or comparison shopping services.

“Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of s for more than 800 comparison shopping services,” Google said.

Google h alrey lost an earlier appeal to EU General Court, tribunal's lower section. Court of Justice's viser also recommended rejecting appeal earlier this year.

European consumer group BEUC hailed court's decision, saying it shows how bloc's competition law “remains highly relevant" in digital markets.

“It is a good outcome for all European consumers at end of day,” Director General Agustín Reyna said in an interview. “It means that many smaller companies or rivals will be able to go to different comparison shopping sites. y don't need to depend on Google to reach out to customers." Google is still appealing its two or EU antitrust cases: a 2018 fine of 4.125 billion euros involving its Android operating system and a 2019 penalty of 1.49 billion euros over its Sense vertising platform.

Those three cases foreshowed expanded efforts by regulators worldwide to crack down on tech industry. EU has since opened more investigations into Big Tech companies and drew up a new law to prevent m from cornering online markets, known as Digital Markets Act.

European Commissioner and Executive Vice President Margre Vestager said that shopping case was one of first attempts to regulate a digital company and inspired similar efforts worldwide.

" case was symbolic because it demonstrated even most powerful tech companies could be held accountable. No one is above law,” Vestager told a press briefing in Brussels.

Vestager said commission will continue to open competition cases even as it enforces Digital Markets Act. DMA is a sweeping rulebook that forces Google and or tech giants to give consumers more choice by following a set of dos and don'ts.

Google is also now facing particular pressure over its lucrative digital vertising business from EU and Britain, which are carrying out separate investigations, and United States, where Department of Justice is taking company to federal court over its alleged dominance in tech.

Also Tuesday, Apple failed in its last bid to avoid repaying its Irish taxes after Court of Justice upheld a lower court ruling against company, in dispute that dates back to 2016.

Vestager, who said she h been braced for defeat, hailed it as a landmark victory for “tax justice”.

It was a surprise win for commission, which has previously targeted Amazon , Starbucks and Fiat with tax rulings that were later overturned on appeal. y were part of EU's efforts to stamp out sweeart deals that let companies pay little to no taxes, in a fight that highlighted debate over wher multinational corporations are paying ir fair share around world.

case drew outrage from Apple when it was opened in 2016, with CEO Tim Cook calling it “total political crap”. n-US President Donald Trump slammed Vestager, who spearheed campaign to root out special tax deals and crack down on big US tech companies, as “tax ly” who “really hates US”.