A court of the European Union has annulled a decision by the European Commission ordering US IT giant Google to pay a fine of 1.49 billion euros, or about 1.66 billion dollars.
Google runs a business which displays ads on third party websites that are related to keywords that users search for.
In 2019, the European Commission claimed that Google “abused its dominant position” by favoring its own system over those of its competitors.
It said Google, which has an overwhelming share in the ad business, had hindered fair competition in violation of EU competition law, and slapped the company with the antitrust fine.
Google filed a lawsuit against the commission’s decision.
The EU General Court annulled the fine on Wednesday, saying the commission’s investigation was insufficient.
The two sides can appeal the ruling if they find it unsatisfactory.
The commission told NHK that it will “carefully study the judgement and reflect on possible next steps.”
Google said it is “pleased that the court has recognized errors in the commission’s decision and annulled the fine.”