The General Court has annulled the European Commission's decision to fine Google almost €1.5 billion in a case related to its AdSense for Search platform. While upholding most of the Commission's findings, the Court found errors in assessing the duration of contract clauses deemed abusive.

Google has operated the AdSense advertising platform since 2003, offering services like AdSense for Search (AFS) which allowed website publishers to display ads linked to online queries. The General Court found that clauses in Google Services Agreements (GSAs) restricted or prohibited displaying ads from services competing with AFS.

The Commission initiated proceedings in 2016, alleging that certain clauses in GSAs could foreclose competition. Google removed or amended these clauses in response. However, the Commission later fined Google for three separate infringements from 2006 to 2016, totaling almost €1.5 billion.

The General Court ruled that the Commission erred in assessing the duration and market coverage of the clauses in 2016. It found that the Commission failed to establish that the clauses constituted an abuse of dominance or a continuous infringement. The Court annulled the Commission's decision in its entirety.