The long legal battle of Google against the massive fine imposed by the European Union for the Android case ends in a definitive defeat. The Court of Justice of the EU has confirmed the €4.125 billion fine, rejecting the appeal by the company and its parent Alphabet, reinforcing one of Brussels’ most important decisions in the strategy to control the power of Big Tech.
THE COURT’S DECISION
The Court of Justice of the European Union has dismissed the appeal filed by Google and its parent Alphabet against the 2022 EU General Court ruling, thus confirming the €4.125 billion fine for abuse of dominant position related to the Android operating system.
The Court, reports Reuters, ruled that the appeal is dismissed, “confirming the fine imposed for Google’s abuse of dominant position in Google Search in the context of the Android operating system.” With this decision, the highest antitrust fine ever imposed by the European Union becomes final.
THE CHARGES ON ANDROID
The European Commission’s investigation, concluded in 2018, had led to an initial fine of €4.34 billion. According to Brussels, Google exploited Android’s dominant position by requiring smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search, the Chrome browser, and the Play Store as a condition to obtain licenses for their applications.
Furthermore, it allegedly made payments to some major manufacturers and mobile operators to install exclusively Google Search and prevented the marketing of devices based on alternative versions of the operating system, the so-called “Android forks.” For the Commission, such practices consolidated the dominance of Google’s search engine, limiting competition and the choice available to consumers and market operators.
THE REDUCTION OF THE FINE
In 2022, recalls the Financial Times, the EU General Court confirmed most of the Commission’s findings but reduced the fine from €4.34 billion to €4.125 billion. The judges found that some of the allegations regarding exclusivity agreements with certain manufacturers and mobile operators were not sufficiently proven, but left unchanged the overall framework of the accusation and the anticompetitive effects of the pre-installation conditions set by the agreements related to Android.
GOOGLE’S REACTION
Google criticized the Court’s decision, arguing that the judgment “does not recognize our significant investment to ensure that Android remains open, interoperable, and free.”
The company also recalled that it has already modified its commercial agreements to comply with the Commission’s 2018 decision, adding that it will continue to focus “on innovation and openness for the benefit of users, partners, and developers.” During the proceedings, it also argued that Android users could freely download competing applications and that the Commission had underestimated the role of Apple, which on its iPhones favors services like Safari.
ALL THE EUROPEAN FINES TO GOOGLE
The Android case represents one of the main proceedings initiated by the European Union against Google. Between 2017 and 2019, notes FT, the Commission imposed total fines on the group amounting to about €8 billion, a figure that exceeds €11 billion considering all the antitrust fines the company has received in recent years.
The Court of Justice had already confirmed the €2.42 billion fine related to the price comparison service, while Google had obtained the annulment of the €1.5 billion fine imposed in 2019 for the online advertising market.
OTHER ONGOING INVESTIGATIONS
Google also remains at the center of other European proceedings. The Commission, adds Bloomberg, is conducting several investigations under the Digital Markets Act, the regulation introduced to limit the power of large digital platforms, concerning the alleged preferential treatment given to its own services in search results and the rules applied to developers on the Play Store. These proceedings could lead to new fines.
At the same time, recalls Euractiv, the company was also subject to a €2.95 billion fine in a separate case related to the advertising technology market.
