EU adviser proposes sending Google's AdSense fine back to court

Advocate General Juliane Kokott says the General Court erred when it annulled a European Commission decision that fined Google almost 1.5 billion euros over AdSense contracts. She proposes that the judgment be set aside and the case sent back for a fresh judgment. The opinion, in case C-826/24 P, was delivered in Luxembourg on November 12, 2026.

The opinion is not a ruling. The Court of Justice press release says an advocate general's opinion is not binding. The judges are beginning deliberations. Judgment will be given at a later date.

The fine dates to March 2019. The Commission found that, between 2006 and 2016, Google committed three infringements through clauses in Google Services Agreements for AdSense for Search, and that those infringements formed one continuous infringement. The fine was imposed in part jointly and severally with Alphabet. The press release says the model clauses restricted or prohibited ads from services competing with AdSense for Search.

The General Court annulled that decision on September 18, 2024. It found the Commission had not adequately examined the circumstances, in particular how long the contracts ran, and so had not demonstrated the infringements. Kokott says that court imposed excessive requirements on the examination of duration and did not weigh that point against the other criteria.

A fresh judgment would still have to look at the fine. Kokott says the General Court has not yet examined some of Google's arguments, including objections to the amount. She says the fine should be reduced in any event, because the General Court's finding that exclusionary effects were not shown for 2016 was not challenged on appeal.