EU's Vestager wins against Google's policies and Apple's tax arrangement

In two historic decisions on Tuesday, Europe's highest court supported EU antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager's efforts to rein in Google's anti-competitive tactics and Apple's Irish tax agreement.

Vestager Margrethe Apple ruling, whose term ends in November, has become well-known for opposing Big Tech's tax arrangements with some EU countries and for trying to impose restrictions on smaller competitors. Her successor might decide to follow suit in light of the judicial victories.

The head of EU antitrust applauded the rulings. She praised the Google decision as a significant victory for digital justice and declared, "Today is a huge win for European citizens and tax justice," in reference to part X of the Apple case.

EU vs Apple and Google, In 2016, the European Commission ruled that Apple had been unfairly benefited for more than 20 years by two Irish tax rulings that artificially lowered its tax burden to as low as 0.005% in 2014. The Commission ordered Apple to pay back taxes to Ireland totaling 13 billion euros ($14.4 billion).

The Court of Justice of the European Union, situated in Luxembourg, took Vestager's side.
"The Court of Justice gives final judgment in the matter and confirms the European Commission's 2016 decision: Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover," judges said.

According to them, Apple's two Irish-incorporated businesses benefited from preferential tax treatment in comparison to Irish resident companies that aren't allowed to take advantage of such advance judgments from Irish tax authorities.

Apple tax deal EU, who was told that it was disappointed with the ruling, said that throughout the 2003–2014 period that was the focus of the EU investigation, it paid $577 million in taxes, or 12.5% of its profits, in compliance with Irish tax laws.

In 2017, the world's most popular search engine on the internet was punished by the Commission for unfairly utilizing its own price comparison tool to outbid smaller competitors in Europe.

Over the past ten years, Google has been fined 8.25 billion euros by the EU for antitrust violations. It is currently awaiting the results of two rulings that it has contested over its Android mobile operating system and AdSense advertising business.