EU legal adviser urges retrial in Google advertising fine case worth about $1.66 billion

Alphabet’s Google is facing a renewed challenge in Europe over a large advertising fine, after an Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union recommended that the bloc’s top court overturn a September 2024 General Court judgment and send the case back for another ruling.

The legal opinion, attributed to Advocate General Juliane Kokott, concerns a penalty described by market reporting as totaling about 1.66 billion. The recommendation is not the final decision, but it indicates that the Advocate General believes errors were made in the earlier EU-court process or that additional review is required.

Under the EU system, the Advocate General’s role is to provide an independent legal opinion to help guide the court’s deliberations. The Court of Justice is not required to follow the advice, but the opinion can influence how judges frame issues and what they scrutinize most closely.

If the Court of Justice follows the recommendation, the case would return to the General Court for a new ruling, resetting the legal outcome and potentially changing the scope of the fine, the reasoning behind it, or both. The reporting frames the development as a renewed challenge, reflecting that Google is again asking for the penalty to be reconsidered at a higher judicial level.

The dispute falls under the EU’s competition-law enforcement framework as applied to online advertising practices. While Google has argued against liability in related proceedings over how advertising services operate, specific allegations, internal evidence, or the fine’s final legal basis are not detailed in the brief market summary.