EU Top Court Upholds Antitrust Fine Against Google

Brussels (ANTARA) - The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Thursday (2/7) upheld an antitrust fine of €4.125 billion (approximately $4.7 billion) imposed on Google for abusive practices related to its Android mobile operating system.

The ruling rejects the appeal filed by Google and its parent company, Alphabet, against a previous decision by the General Court of the European Union, which affirmed that the US tech giant had abused its dominant market position through restrictions related to Android.

The CJEU ruled that the General Court of the EU had correctly assessed the anti-competitive impact of Google’s practices. The CJEU found that pre-installation requirements and anti-fragmentation agreements could restrict competition and strengthen Google’s dominant position within the Android ecosystem.

The case originated from a 2018 European Commission decision, which found that Google had required smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome browser applications as a condition for licensing certain Android applications.

The European Commission also found that Google’s anti-fragmentation agreements limited the development of alternative versions of Android, thereby restricting competition.

The European Commission initially imposed a fine of €4.34 billion (approximately $4.94 billion). In 2022, the General Court of the EU partially annulled one aspect of the decision regarding certain revenue-sharing agreements, but maintained the Commission’s core findings and reduced the fine to €4.125 billion.

Furthermore, the CJEU rejected Google’s argument that its actions could be objectively justified and upheld the General Court’s decision regarding the recalculation of the fine amount.