In a recent development concerning the ongoing saga of Google’s dominance in search functionalities, Advocate General Kokott has issued an Opinion in the case of Google and Alphabet v Commission (Google Shopping) (C-48/22 P).

The core issue revolves around Google’s alleged manipulation of search results to favor its own comparison shopping service over those of competitors. The Commission’s contested decision found that Google prioritized its own CSS within general search results pages, leading users to click on these results more frequently than those of competing services. This practice, according to the Commission, constituted an abuse of Google’s dominant position in online general search, impacting the downstream market for specialized product search services.

Google and Alphabet subsequently appealed to the Court of Justice, seeking to overturn the General Court’s judgment and nullify the Commission’s decision.

AG Kokott, in her Opinion, proposes that the Court of Justice dismiss Google and Alphabet’s appeal. Her reasoning centers on the concept of “self-preferencing by recourse to leveraging.” In essence, she argues that Google exploited its dominance in the general search market to gain an unfair advantage in the downstream market for specialized product search. This leveraging strategy, according to AG Kokott, constitutes a clear abuse of dominant position, even if the general search market itself was not demonstrably harmed.

The full opinion is available here.