The decade-long saga is finally at an end, but Google faces further sanctions in the EU.
Europe’s highest court of appeal has upheld a record-setting €4.1 billion ($4.67 billion) fine imposed on Google back in 2018 for antitrust violations around its Android operating system. “The appeal brought by Google and its parent company Alphabet against the judgment of the General Court is dismissed,” the Court of Justice of the European Union wrote in a press release, adding that it has confirmed the financial penalty imposed for Google Search’s abuse of its dominant position.
In 2016, the EU Commission charged Google with forcing mobile network operators to install Chrome, search and other Google apps as the default or exclusive search service on most devices sold in Europe. With a market share of over 80 percent in many countries, that effectively locked others out of the search market, creating a near-monopoly for the search giant.
The original fine of €4.34 billion (later reduced to $4.13 billion) “takes into account the duration and gravity of the infringement,” the EU Commission wrote at the time. It added that the fine was calculated based on Google’s revenue from search advertising on Android in the European Economic Area. It also ordered to “bring its illegal conduct to an end… within 90 days of the decision.”
The Court of Justice said that the General Court that made the original decision “did not err in law when assessing the anticompetitive effects of the pre-installation conditions laid down by the Android agreements,” adding that it correctly ruled with regard to the illegality of its Android agreements as well. It said that the reasoning behind the amount of the fine was also sound.
A judgement against Google started to seem inevitable a year ago once the European Court of Justice’s advocate general recommended dismissing the appeal. Google was also levied a €2.4 billion ($2.8 billion) over its shopping search monopoly in 2017, losing its final appeal to that case in 2024.
Google is still facing antitrust issues in the EU under its Digital Markets Act (DMA). It has been accused by the EU Commission of unfairly favoring its own search services and preventing app developers from steering consumers to payment options outside its Play Store. It is also being investigated for concerns that it is unfairly demoting some news results.
