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Europe’s highest court on Thursday upheld a €4.1 billion ($4.8 billion) antitrust fine against Google, rejecting the tech giant’s appeal in one of the European Union’s biggest competition cases involving its Android mobile operating system.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) dismissed the appeal filed by Google and its parent company, Alphabet, confirming an earlier ruling that the company abused its dominant position through Android to restrict competition.
“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 Luxembourg-based court said.
The case stems from a 2018 decision by the European Commission, which accused Google of using Android to strengthen the dominance of its search engine by imposing restrictive conditions on smartphone manufacturers and mobile network operators.
The Commission had originally imposed a record €4.34 billion fine, arguing that Google required device makers to pre-install Google Search and the Chrome browser alongside the Google Play Store while limiting the use of alternative Android versions.
In 2022, the EU’s General Court largely upheld the Commission’s findings but reduced the penalty to €4.1 billion. Google subsequently appealed that decision before the bloc’s highest court.
Thursday’s ruling brings the years-long legal battle to an end and marks another major victory for EU competition regulators as they continue to tighten oversight of Big Tech firms over alleged anti-competitive practices.
The case, officially titled Google and Alphabet v Commission (C-738/22 P), is among the most significant antitrust actions ever brought by the European Union against a global technology company.
