On 10 November 2021, the European General Court (“EGC” or “Court”) delivered its landmark Google Shopping judgment, the first judicial pronouncement on “self-preferencing” as a viable theory of harm under Article 102 TFEU. The EGC fully endorsed the European Commission’s (“Commission”) decision that Google abused its dominant position by favouring its own comparison-shopping service (“CSS”) over competing CSSs in search results. In dismissing Google’s appeal, the Court not only upheld the Commission’s analysis, but went even further and added its own rationale to condemn Google’s self-preferencing practices. Google Shopping thus confirms that self-preferencing by a dominant firm can, in certain circumstances, infringe Article 102 TFEU. Importantly, however, the EGC also clarified that not every
The EU General Court confirms that “self-preferencing” by a Big Tech company can infringe Article 102 TFEU (Google Shopping)
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