Europe vs Big Tech: Apple, Google lose tax, antitrust battles

STORY: Europe scored two big wins against Big Tech on Tuesday, with Google and Apple in the firing line.

The iPhone maker lost a battle to overturn an order requiring it to pay $14.4 billion in back taxes to Ireland.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager spoke at a news conference:

“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. Do we implement what we have decided.”

The European Commission issued the order in 2016, saying it had reduced Apple’s tax burden to as little as 0.005%.

Apple has said the order defied common sense, and was backed by Ireland, which used low taxes to lure tech firms to the country.

On Tuesday, the tech giant said the Commission had retroactively changed the rules, and ignored the fact that the company was already taxed in the U.S.

However, the new ruling is final and cannot be appealed.

Google didn’t fare any better on Tuesday.

It lost a fight against a $2.7 billion fine levied by antitrust regulators seven years ago.

Back then, the Commission ruled that the search giant used its price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.

That has now been backed by the EU’s top court.

Margrethe Vestager again:

“The Google shopping case is a landmark in the history of regulatory actions against big tech companies. It was one of the first significant antitrust cases brought by a competition agency against a major digital company. And I think this case marked a pivotal shift in how digital companies were regulated and also perceived.”

Google has now racked up over $9 billion in European fines over the past decade.

It is currently challenging two rulings, including one regarding its Android phone operating system.