Google Triumphs in Legal Battle Against EU Antitrust Fine

Google successfully contested a 1.49 billion euro EU antitrust fine related to its AdSense platform. The ruling comes amidst outgoing EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager's mixed track record in court. Meanwhile, Qualcomm's appeal against its own fine was only partially successful.

Alphabet unit Google won a significant legal victory on Wednesday, overturning a 1.49 billion euro ($1.7 billion) European Union antitrust fine. Qualcomm, on the other hand, failed in its attempt to completely eliminate a separate penalty.

The rulings highlight the mixed legal success of outgoing EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager. Her efforts to regulate Big Tech have seen varying results, despite recent wins against Google in another case and against Apple's tax arrangements with Ireland.

In Google's case, the European Commission had accused the tech giant of abusing its dominant position to restrict competition from 2006 to 2016. The General Court agreed with some of these assessments but annulled the fine, criticizing the Commission's failure to consider all pertinent factors. Google welcomed the decision, noting prior adjustments to its AdSense policies.

(With inputs from agencies.)