Back in 2018, Google was handed a record-setting 4.34 billion-euro ($4.9 billion) fine in Europe for abusing its monopoly on Android. The company has spent the intervening years challenging that decision, but the continent’s highest court has put a stop to that. The Court of Justice of the European Union has affirmed the penalty, meaning Google is out of options.
Google’s fight may not have turned out the way the company wanted, but it wasn’t for nothing. The initial amount was trimmed slightly by a lower court in 2022, bringing the total to a still record-setting 4.1 billion euros ($4.7 billion). And that looks like the amount Google will have to pay since there are no further avenues for appeal.
The fine stems from the way Google bundles apps and services with Android phones. The EU took issue with Google search and Chrome being the default options on Android. Even devices made by other companies, such as Samsung and Xiaomi, include Google apps as the default per the Android licensing agreement, giving Google an unfair advantage, according to European antitrust regulators. This is not to be confused with a 2.95 billion euro ($3.45 billion) fine against Google’s advertising monopoly issued by the European Union last year.
“The appeal brought by Google and its parent company Alphabet against the judgment of the General Court is dismissed, thereby confirming the penalty imposed for Google Search’s abuse of a dominant position in the context of the Android operating system,” the judge’s ruling (PDF) said.
The case mirrored Europe’s actions against Windows years earlier when Microsoft was forced to add browser ballot screens to crack Internet Explorer’s dominance. Of course, Microsoft’s browser dominance was crumbling by the time the EU managed to get that implemented. Google’s market position, however, remains firmly in place despite creating similar ballot screens on Android when the ruling was first handed down.
