Google Loses Final Appeal Over Massive $4.7 Billion Android Antitrust Fine
Google has exhausted its legal options to combat a huge fine that was initially imposed in 2018. In a press release, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) announced it has formally dismissed an appeal brought forth by Google and its parent company Alphabet, thereby confirming a massive penalty of over $4 billion for "abuse of a dominant position in the context of the Android operating system."
This is entirely separate from the $3.45 billion antitrust fine imposed by the EU last year over the use of Google's automated digital advertising technologies. That case is a separate legal battle that is still ongoing.
The 2018 judgement relates in part to Google's decision to force mobile device makers to install its own collection of apps—namely, it's Search app and Chrome browser—on Android phones in order to have access to its Play Store.
Google also drew the wrath of the European Commission for paying phone makers and mobile operators to exclusively preinstall its Search app, a move that effectively blocked rivals, and for disallowing Android device makers from running forked (modified) version of its mobile operating system.
Originally, Google was smacked with a €4.34 billion, which is now equivalent to just shy of $5 billion in U.S. currency. This was later reduced to €4.1 billion (around $4.69 billion), but Google had sought to have it wiped out completely on appeal. That did not happen, and the fine is the largest ever imposed by the EU in an antitrust suit.
"The General Court did not err in law when assessing the anticompetitive effects of the pre-installation conditions laid
down by the Android agreements. The Court of Justice considers that the General Court was entitled to take account of the
relevant economic context in its entirety, including the revenue share agreements, without it being necessary
systematically to carry out any counterfactual analysis in order to establish an infringement of the prohibition of abuse of a
dominant position," the new ruling states (PDF).
The ruling (PDF) also rejected Google's other objections. With this final ruling, the long-running antitrust saga officially reaches its conclusion. By upholding the General Court's decision, the Court of Justice of the European Union—essentially the supreme court of the EU when it comes to EU law—has cemented one of the most significant antitrust penalties in history.
