rewrite this content and keep HTML tags Apple Corporation has taken a fall with a final ruling in the European Court. Photo: Drahomír Hugo Posteby-Mach on UnSplash.
Google lost its last bid to overturn a European Union antimonopoly penalty, after the top court in the European Union ruled against it Tuesday, upholding a huge fine and giving encouragement to those who wish to challenge the hegemony of the massive American Internet companies that make huge profits in Europe, but pay few taxes in Europe.
The ruling concerned Google’s comparison shopping service, which the court said tilted the search results in favor of vendors that had a commercial relationship with Google.
On the same day, Apple Corporation lost its challenge against an order to repay $14.34 billion in back taxes to Ireland. Ireland had been allowing Apple to pay a tiny fraction of its European profits in Ireland, on the grounds that its profits were already taxed in the USA, but the court ruled that this was below the minimum amount of corporate tax allowed.
“Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover,” the Court of Justice said on Tuesday. It stressed that its ruling was the “final judgment in the matter.”
Both companies have now exhausted their appeals in the cases that date to the previous decade.
These ruling follow the recent case in which the high court in Brazil had banned Twitter, formerly known as X, and its associated companies from Brazil, following the companies failure to appoint a legal representative in Brazil.
Together, the court decisions are a victory for European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, the commission’s long-serving top official overseeing competition.
“It was a win that made me cry because it is very important,” Vestager told a press conference. “It’s very important to show European taxpayers that once in a while tax justice can be done.”
Experts said the rulings illustrate how watchdogs have been emboldened in the years since the cases were first opened.
One of the takeaways from the Apple decision “is the sense that, again, the EU authorities and courts are prepared to flex their [collective] muscles to bring Big Tech to heel where necessary,” Alex Haffner, a competition partner at law firm Fladgate, said by email.
The Apple case was part of a slew of probes aimed at how countries like Ireland and Luxembourg offered favorable tax treatment to hook the European headquarters of multinational firms.
Apple’s is now also facing three investigations over its non-compliance with digital competition rules.
The shopping fine was one of three huge antitrust penalties for Google from the commission, which punished the Silicon Valley giant in 2017 for unfairly directing visitors to its own Google Shopping service over competitors.
“We are disappointed with the decision of the Court, which relates to a very specific set of facts,” Google said in a brief statement.
The company said it made changes to comply with the commission’s decision requiring it to treat competitors equally. It started holding auctions for shopping search listings that it would bid for alongside other comparison shopping services.
“Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services,” Google said.
European consumer group BEUC hailed the court’s decision, saying it shows how the bloc’s competition law “remains highly relevant” in digital markets.
“It is a good outcome for all European consumers at the end of the 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. They don’t need to depend on Google to reach out to customers.”
Google is still appealing its two other EU antitrust cases: a 2018 fine of $4.55 billion involving its Android operating system and a 2019 penalty of $1.64 billion over its AdSense advertising platform.
Despite the amounts of money involved, the adverse rulings will leave a small financial dent in one of the world’s richest and most profitable companies. The combined bill of $17 billion facing Apple and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, represents 0.3% of their combined market value of $5.2 trillion.
Those three cases foreshadowed expanded efforts by regulators worldwide to crack down on the tech industry. The EU has since opened more investigations into Big Tech companies and drew up a new law to prevent them from cornering online markets, known as the Digital Markets Act.
Google is also now facing pressure over its lucrative digital advertising business from the EU and Britain, which are carrying out separate investigations, and the United States, where the Department of Justice is taking the company to federal court over its alleged dominance in ad tech.
Apple failed in its last bid to avoid repaying its Irish taxes Tuesday after the Court of Justice upheld a lower court ruling against the company, in the dispute that dates back to 2016.
The case drew outrage from Apple, with CEO Tim Cook calling it “total political crap.”
Sources: VOA, European Commissioner, AP, Politico, BBC.
.Organize the content with appropriate headings and subheadings (h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6), Retain any existing tags from Apple Corporation has taken a fall with a final ruling in the European Court. Photo: Drahomír Hugo Posteby-Mach on UnSplash.
Google lost its last bid to overturn a European Union antimonopoly penalty, after the top court in the European Union ruled against it Tuesday, upholding a huge fine and giving encouragement to those who wish to challenge the hegemony of the massive American Internet companies that make huge profits in Europe, but pay few taxes in Europe.
The ruling concerned Google’s comparison shopping service, which the court said tilted the search results in favor of vendors that had a commercial relationship with Google.
On the same day, Apple Corporation lost its challenge against an order to repay $14.34 billion in back taxes to Ireland. Ireland had been allowing Apple to pay a tiny fraction of its European profits in Ireland, on the grounds that its profits were already taxed in the USA, but the court ruled that this was below the minimum amount of corporate tax allowed.
“Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover,” the Court of Justice said on Tuesday. It stressed that its ruling was the “final judgment in the matter.”
Both companies have now exhausted their appeals in the cases that date to the previous decade.
These ruling follow the recent case in which the high court in Brazil had banned Twitter, formerly known as X, and its associated companies from Brazil, following the companies failure to appoint a legal representative in Brazil.
Together, the court decisions are a victory for European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, the commission’s long-serving top official overseeing competition.
“It was a win that made me cry because it is very important,” Vestager told a press conference. “It’s very important to show European taxpayers that once in a while tax justice can be done.”
Experts said the rulings illustrate how watchdogs have been emboldened in the years since the cases were first opened.
One of the takeaways from the Apple decision “is the sense that, again, the EU authorities and courts are prepared to flex their [collective] muscles to bring Big Tech to heel where necessary,” Alex Haffner, a competition partner at law firm Fladgate, said by email.
The Apple case was part of a slew of probes aimed at how countries like Ireland and Luxembourg offered favorable tax treatment to hook the European headquarters of multinational firms.
Apple’s is now also facing three investigations over its non-compliance with digital competition rules.
The shopping fine was one of three huge antitrust penalties for Google from the commission, which punished the Silicon Valley giant in 2017 for unfairly directing visitors to its own Google Shopping service over competitors.
“We are disappointed with the decision of the Court, which relates to a very specific set of facts,” Google said in a brief statement.
The company said it made changes to comply with the commission’s decision requiring it to treat competitors equally. It started holding auctions for shopping search listings that it would bid for alongside other comparison shopping services.
“Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services,” Google said.
European consumer group BEUC hailed the court’s decision, saying it shows how the bloc’s competition law “remains highly relevant” in digital markets.
“It is a good outcome for all European consumers at the end of the 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. They don’t need to depend on Google to reach out to customers.”
Google is still appealing its two other EU antitrust cases: a 2018 fine of $4.55 billion involving its Android operating system and a 2019 penalty of $1.64 billion over its AdSense advertising platform.
Despite the amounts of money involved, the adverse rulings will leave a small financial dent in one of the world’s richest and most profitable companies. The combined bill of $17 billion facing Apple and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, represents 0.3% of their combined market value of $5.2 trillion.
Those three cases foreshadowed expanded efforts by regulators worldwide to crack down on the tech industry. The EU has since opened more investigations into Big Tech companies and drew up a new law to prevent them from cornering online markets, known as the Digital Markets Act.
Google is also now facing pressure over its lucrative digital advertising business from the EU and Britain, which are carrying out separate investigations, and the United States, where the Department of Justice is taking the company to federal court over its alleged dominance in ad tech.
Apple failed in its last bid to avoid repaying its Irish taxes Tuesday after the Court of Justice upheld a lower court ruling against the company, in the dispute that dates back to 2016.
The case drew outrage from Apple, with CEO Tim Cook calling it “total political crap.”
Sources: VOA, European Commissioner, AP, Politico, BBC.
and integrate them seamlessly into the new content without adding new tags. Include conclusion section and FAQs section at the end. do not include the title. it must return only article i dont want any extra information or introductory text with article e.g: ” Here is rewritten article:” or “Here is the rewritten content:”