Google must pay €4.1B fine for using Android to 'block' rivals
Google lost its final appeal against a €4.1 billion EU antitrust fine, with Europe's top court ruling that the company illegally used its Android mobile operating system to stifle competition and cement its dominance in internet search.
Background
- The European Commission fined Google €4.1 billion in 2018 for illegally using Android's dominance to force phone makers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome as a condition for licensing the Play Store.
- The EU's General Court has now largely upheld that fine (slightly reduced to €4.125 billion), rejecting Google's appeal.
- This is separate from Google's other major EU fines: €2.4 billion (2017, for favoring its own shopping service in search results) and €1.49 billion (2019, for blocking rival search advertisers).
- The ruling reinforces the EU's aggressive antitrust enforcement against Big Tech under competition chief Margrethe Vestager.