Google Loses Bid to Overturn EU Fine for Android Abuses.
The continent’s top court backed the unprecedented $5 billion penalty for forcing smartphone makers to use the search giant’s software in a significant blow for Big Tech.
Google has lost its bid to overturn the highest antitrust fine in EU history after the continent’s top court endorsed the bloc’s finding that the technology giant illegally abused the dominance of its Android mobile operating system to stifle competition in the smartphone market.
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The European Union’s Court of Justice on Tuesday upheld the 4.3 billion euro ($5 billion) fine, closing one of the bloc’s most prominent competition cases some eight years after the EU regulators first took Google to task for leveraging Android to consolidate the dominance of its search and other services.
The ruling comes more than three years after the European Commission penalized Google in 2018 for forcing mobile device makers that used its free and open-source Android operating system to pre-install Google Search and Chrome on their devices as a condition for licensing its Google Play Store.
Regulators also found that Google prevented phone manufacturers from selling smartphones equipped with alternative versions of the Android OS, hampering the ability of competitors’ search engines and browsers to flourish.
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Google had argued that the Android operating system fostered competition and consumer choice by providing free access to a robust software platform on which millions of affordable devices had been developed and sold.
It had insisted that consumers were free to select different search apps and web browsers and download those from third parties.
But Europe’s top judges disagreed and endorsed the European Commission’s finding that the company’s practices had unfairly solidified its position in mobile search, restricted competition, limited consumer choice, and that the penalty was “appropriate and proportionate under European Union competition law.”
Tuesday’s ruling represents yet another major setback for Google in the EU, where authorities have become increasingly vigilant about what they view as the anti-competitive behaviour of the region’s tech titans.
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Google faces ever-stricter scrutiny over its dominance and its treatment of rivals in key digital markets. Competition lawyers believe the court’s decision reinforces the EU’s commitment to ensuring that the dominance of large digital players cannot be used to exclude their rivals or hobble consumer choices.
It will also strengthen the bloc’s push to regulate the influence of big tech with its upcoming DMA, or Digital Markets Act, which requires large tech firms to open up their platforms to rivals.
The ruling will no doubt affect other antitrust cases involving big tech firms around the world. Google had no immediate comment on whether it would take further action, but in a statement, it has said Android has helped grow innovation and choice in the global smartphone industry.
