The CJEU issued a record fine. Google will pay billions of euros
Google has definitely lost the long-standing dispute with the European Commission. The CJEU upheld a record fine of over €4 billion for Android-related practices.
The Court of Justice of the European Union has upheld the record financial fine imposed on Google by the European Commission. The case concerns the use of the Android system to strengthen the company’s dominant position on the search engine market.
The verdict ends one of the most high-profile antitrust disputes in recent years. The CJEU dismissed the appeal of Google and its parent company Alphabet, upholding the earlier ruling regarding abuse of a dominant position.
European Commission: Android strengthened Google’s dominance
The proceedings began in 2018, when the European Commission found that Google had used the popularity of Android to limit competition in the online search market.
According to the Commission’s findings, mobile device manufacturers wishing to use the official Google Play store had to pre-install the Google Search engine and the Chrome browser at the same time. Additionally, the company concluded agreements with selected manufacturers and mobile network operators providing remuneration for installing only Google applications.
According to EU authorities, such practices hampered the development of competing search engines and limited the choice of mobile device users.
The record fine remains in force
The European Commission originally imposed a fine of EUR 4.34 billion on Google. In 2022, the court of first instance reduced the penalty to approximately EUR 4.1 billion, but it was still the highest financial penalty in the history of EU antitrust proceedings.
Now the Court of Justice of the European Union has found that the previous findings were correct. This means that Google has failed to disprove the most important allegations that it is exploiting its dominant position in the smartphone operating system market.
The dispute lasted eight years
When the European Commission issued its decision in 2018, approximately 80 percent mobile devices in the world used Android. According to Commission estimates, Google generated approximately EUR 95 billion in annual revenues from its online search business at that time.
Thursday’s verdict means the end of a long-standing legal battle and the maintenance of one of the largest financial sanctions ever imposed by the European Union on a global technology company.
