Google and Apple lose EU lawsuit worth billions of dollars

On Tuesday, the European Union (EU) made significant progress in its conflict with the IT sector.

With the Court of Justice of the European Union (Supreme Court of the EU) verdict in an old dispute between Apple and Google, the EU has accomplished a significant victory.

EU authorities have been punishing Apple and Google for impeding competition for a long time.

The Court of Justice's decision on Tuesday concerns Apple's obligation to pay taxes to the Irish government totaling 13 billion euros, or roughly $14.4 billion in current currency, as mandated by the EU in 2016.

It was claimed that Apple and the Irish government had entered into an unlawful agreement that gave Apple significant tax benefits for doing business in Europe. Apple was forced by the EU to reimburse the Irish government for the illegal activities it performed. Such an order was issued by the EU, which asserted that Apple only paid 50 euros in taxes for every million euros in profits.

It was claimed that Apple and the Irish government had entered into an unlawful agreement that gave Apple significant tax benefits for doing business in Europe. Apple was forced by the EU to reimburse the Irish government for the illegal activities it performed. Such an order was issued by the EU, which asserted that Apple only paid 50 euros in taxes for every million euros in profits.

Apple maintained a 'escrow' account in the amount of 13 billion euros for the Court of Justice lawsuit. Ireland has supported Apple in this dispute and has a tax exemption deal with the corporation, but Ireland will now get the money from the escrow account.

In 2017, the European Union decided to penalize Google for not making its online shopping service results more competitive when users searched for a product's price. Google was penalized 2.4 billion euros at the time, or around 2.65 billion USD.

On Tuesday, the Court of Justice rendered a decision in a related case.

In 2021, Google's appeal to the EU General Court was denied. However, he appealed the General Court's ruling once more to the Court of Justice. On Tuesday, the Court of Justice affirmed the General Court's ruling and ordered Google to pay the fee.

Google has stated that it began displaying the results of rival price comparison websites after making changes to its algorithm in 2017. Nonetheless, rivals continue to charge Google with abusing its services.

The EU's long-running conflict with digital companies has taken a major turn with today's verdict. However, this decision would compel businesses to market their goods and services in line with European regulations.