The EU’s General Court annulled the penalty, which was issued by the European Commission, the bloc’s top antitrust enforcer.

It is an unusual legal win for Google. The tech giant has been hit with three antitrust fines amounting to more than €8bn in recent years. Last week Google lost a final challenge against one of those penalties for its shopping comparison service that also involved a hefty fine.

Google won a court fight with the European Union over a €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) fine for thwarting competition for online ads, partly making up for last week’s crushing defeat in a separate judgment for abusing its monopoly powers.