European court upholds $4.7 billion fine against Google
The Court of Justice of the European Union rejected the U.S. tech giant’s second attempt to overturn the fine imposed in 2018 by the European Commission, the largest antitrust fine ever imposed by the bloc.
Google offices around the world (File photo)
The European Union’s top court on Thursday upheld a record fine of 4.1 billion euros ($4.7 billion) that the bloc imposed on Google for anti-competitive practices related to its Android operating system.
The Court of Justice of the EU rejected the second attempt by the U.S. tech giant to overturn the fine imposed in 2018 by the European Commission, the largest antitrust fine ever imposed by the bloc.
"The Court of Justice dismisses the appeal brought by Google and Alphabet... thereby confirming the penalty imposed on them," the court said.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, was held jointly liable for the fine.
World
EU to honor agreement with Trump, lift tariffs on US products starting Wednesday
Carlos Dominguez
The antitrust regulator of the 27-member bloc accused Google of abusing the popularity of its Android operating system to stifle competition.
It noted that Google pressured mobile phone manufacturers to use Android to pre-install its search engine and the Google Chrome browser, thereby blocking its rivals, and ordered the company to pay a fine of 4.3 billion euros.
That decision was upheld in 2022 by the General Court of the EU, the bloc’s second-highest court, although this Luxembourg-based court reduced the fine to 4.1 billion euros.
Google appealed again
But the EU's top court found the first instance verdict "did not err in law when assessing the anticompetitive effects of the pre-installation conditions laid down by the Android agreements."
According to Google, the ruling does not "recognize our significant investment to ensure Android remains open, interoperable and free."
LATEST
