EU court rejects Google’s appeal of $2.4B antitrust fine

LONDON (AP) — A top European Union court has rejected Google’s appeal against a 2.4 billion euro antitrust penalty from the bloc’s competition watchdog. The EU’s executive Commission had punished Google in 2017 for unfairly favoring its own online shopping recommendations in its search results. The European Court of Justice’s General Court said that it “largely dismisses” Google’s appeal of that penalty and is upholding the fine. The fine was part of an effort by the bloc’s competition regulators to curb the online giant’s clout on the continent. It was followed by two other blockbuster antitrust penalties that the commission slapped on Google totaling 8.25 billion euros, which Google is also appealing.