Google fined a whopping €4.12 billion after losing its EU antitrust appeal

15 Sep 2022 , 08:10 AM

Wednesday marked the second setback for Alphabet subsidiary Google in less than a year as Europe’s top court agreed with EU antitrust investigators that it had misused its dominance but reduced the fine by 5% due to a dispute on one issue.

The court stated, “The General Court substantially confirms the Commission’s finding that Google imposed unlawful limitations on makers of Android mobile devices and mobile network operators in order to consolidate the dominant position of its search engine.”

The General Court, which differed in some ways from the Commission in its reasoning, “considers it reasonable to impose a fine of 4.125 billion euros on Google, in order better to represent the intensity and duration of the infringement,” the judges stated.

In the first of three lawsuits, Google’s challenge to a 2.42-billion-euro ($2.42 billion) fine was unsuccessful last year.

Following failures in cases involving other tech behemoths like Qualcomm and Intel this year, Margrethe Vestager, the head of the EU’s antitrust agency, is encouraged by the verdict.

In its 2018 ruling, the Commission stated that Google utilized Android to reinforce its control over general internet search through payments to significant manufacturers and mobile network operators as well as limitations.

For feedback and suggestions, write to us at [e-mail]