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The 10-year saga has come to an end – The European Court of Justice has upheld a record fine of €4.1 billion ($4.67 billion) imposed on Google back in 2018 for antitrust violations related to the Android operating system. “The appeal filed by Google and its parent company, Alphabet, against the General Court’s ruling is dismissed,” according to a press release from the European Court of Justice.
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In addition, the Court upheld the financial penalty for Google Search’s abuse of its dominant position. In 2016, the European Commission accused Google of forcing mobile operators to install Chrome, Search, and other apps from the tech giant as the default or exclusive service on most devices sold in Europe. Since Google’s market share exceeded 80% in many countries, this effectively shut out competitors from the search market, creating a near-monopoly for the company.
The initial fine of €4.34 billion, which was later reduced to €4.13 billion, “takes into account the duration and severity of the infringement,” European Commission representatives previously noted. It was also reported that the fine was calculated based on the tech giant’s revenue from search advertising on Android within the European Economic Area. In addition, the company was ordered to “cease the illegal activity… within 90 days of the decision being adopted.”
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The Court of Justice emphasized that the General Court, which issued the initial ruling, “did not commit a legal error in assessing the anti-competitive effects of the pre-installation conditions set forth in the Android agreements.” Furthermore, the court confirmed the correctness of the findings regarding the illegality of the relevant Android agreements and deemed the approach to determining the amount of the fine to be well-founded.
In general, a year ago it seemed that Google would lose – at that time, the Advocate General of the Court of Justice recommended dismissing the company’s appeal. Furthermore, in 2017, Google was also fined €2.4 billion ($2.8 billion) for monopolistic practices in its product search service, and in 2024, the company lost its final appeal in that case.
Google continues to face antitrust claims in the European Union under the provisions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The European Commission accuses the company of unfairly promoting its own search services and preventing app developers from directing users to alternative payment methods outside the Play Store. At the same time, an investigation is underway into the possible unfair downgrading of certain news articles in search results.
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