EU: Google Accuses EU of antitrust about-face

Google owner Alphabet accused European Union regulators of making an unexplained about-face in their decision to file antitrust charges against the U.S. search giant, and warned that there was “no basis” for imposing fines, according to a redacted copy of Google’s response seen by The Wall Street Journal. The response was filed last month, but the copy was only recently leaked.

The response, which runs to almost 130 pages and leans heavily on legal opinions and case law, suggests that Google is gearing up for a protracted legal battle against the charges brought by the European Commission.

“The theory on which the [EU’s] preliminary conclusions rest is so ambiguous that the Commission itself concluded three times that the concern had been resolved,” Google’s lawyers wrote in the document. The document was recently sent to complainants in the case following heavy editing to remove commercially sensitive material.

The EU’s demands, Google argues, amount “to a demand that we sacrifice quality to subsidize competitors.”

Full content: The Wall Street Journal

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