Google loses challenge against EU antitrust ruling

Alphabet unit Google lost an appeal to a 2.42-billion-euro European antitrust decision on Wednesday, a major win for the bloc’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager in the first of three court rulings that will strengthen the EU's push to regulate big tech. "The General Court largely dismisses Google's action against the decision of the Commission finding that Google abused its dominant position by favouring its own comparison shopping service over competing comparison shopping services," the Court said. The court said the Commission correctly found that Google's practices harmed competition and swatted away the company's argument that the presence of merchant platforms showed there was strong competition. To augment her antitrust powers, Vestager last year proposed new landmark tech rules that will force U.S. tech giants to change their business models to ensure a level playing field for rivals.