애플•구글, 미국•EU서 천문학적 과징금•소송 직면 As a result of two landmark legal cases, the world's two largest tech companies Apple and Google have both lost their yearslong challenge against the European Union's top court, resulting in payouts worth billions of dollars. Lee Eun-jin reports. On Tuesday, the European Union’s highest court concluded its yearslong campaign to regulate the technology industry, by ruling against Apple and Google in two separate cases that resulted in huge penalties. Both companies have now exhausted all avenues for appeal in these cases. "Today marks a step forward. And it's encouraging. It's encouraging for us to do more. The Commission will continue its work on harmful tax competition and aggressive tax planning, both in terms of legislative proposals, but also enforcement." Google lost its last bid with the Court of Justice of the European Union, in an appeal against its 2-point-7 billion U.S. dollar penalty for violating anti-trust rules seven years ago in 2017, as the Commission ruled that Google used its price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals. Google claimed that they made changes back in 2017 to comply with the European Commission's rules, but some competitors complained that the changes were not enough. In Europe, Google is appealing two other antitrust cases. One from 2018 when the company was fined for breaking antitrust laws to bolster its Android operating system, and another from 2019, where the company was fined for unfair business practices in the digital advertising market. Also on Tuesday, Apple lost its challenge against an order to repay roughly 14-point-3-4 billion U.S. dollars in back taxes to Ireland. Back in 2016, the European Commission ordered Apple to pay back taxes to Ireland, as regulators determined that Apple had struck illegal deals with the Irish government that allowed the company to pay virtually nothing in taxes as low as zero-point-0-0-5 percent. Apple had tried to appeal their case saying that Ireland used such low taxes to lure big tech companies to the country. Having won an earlier decision to strike down the order, the 13 billion euros had been placed in an escrow account, which will now be released to Ireland. The court decisions are a victory for European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is expected to step down next month after 10 years as the commission’s top official overseeing competition. Lee Eunjin, Arirang News. #Apple #Google #EU_court #billion_dollar_payouts #애플 #구글 #Arirang_News #아리랑뉴스 📣 Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/arirangtvnews 📣 Twitter : https://twitter.com/arirangtvnews 📣 Homepage : https://arirang.com/ 2024-09-11, 12:00 (KST)