New Delhi — Google has lost its long-running challenge to a 4.1 billion euro, or about $4.7 billion, European Union antitrust fine after the bloc’s highest court upheld the penalty over the company’s Android business practices.
The European Court of Justice dismissed an appeal by Google and its parent company, Alphabet, against an earlier ruling by the EU’s General Court, confirming the reduced fine imposed by the European Commission.
“The appeal brought by Google and its parent company Alphabet against the judgement of the General Court is dismissed, thereby confirming the penalty imposed for Google Search’s abuse of a dominant position in the context of the Android operating system,” the court said.
The case began in 2018, when the European Commission imposed what was then a record antitrust fine on Google for allegedly using its Android operating system to strengthen the dominance of its search engine.
Regulators said Google required smartphone manufacturers to preinstall Google Search and the Chrome browser as a condition for licensing access to the Play Store.
The Commission also accused Google of paying certain manufacturers and mobile operators to exclusively preinstall Google Search and preventing device makers from selling phones that used alternative versions of Android not approved by the company.
The EU’s General Court largely upheld the Commission’s findings in 2022 but reduced the fine from 4.3 billion euros to 4.1 billion euros after determining that regulators had not sufficiently established one part of the alleged abuse.
Google said the latest ruling fails to recognise our significant investment to ensure Android remains open, interoperable and free, according to reports.
The company said it changed its agreements in 2018 to comply with the Commission’s original decision and would continue focusing on innovation and openness for users, partners and developers.
The Android case was among several major antitrust investigations launched by the European Commission into Google’s business practices and remains one of the bloc’s largest competition enforcement actions against a global technology company. (Source: IANS)
