Kathmandu. The Supreme Court of the European Union (EU) on Thursday upheld Google’s record fine of 4.1 billion euros (4.7 billion US dollars) for antitrust practices related to its Android operating system.
The European Court of Justice rejected the second appeal of the American technology company Google and upheld the fine imposed by the European Commission in 2018. It is still the largest antitrust fine in the EU.
“The Court of Justice has rejected the appeal of Google and Alphabet and decided to uphold the fine imposed on them,” the court said. Google’s parent company Alphabet was also held jointly liable for some of the money.
The European Commission, the EU’s 27-nation group’s antitrust regulator, accused Google of abusing its Android popularity and restricting competition.
The commission fined Google 4.3 billion euros for forcing Android-based phone makers to pre-install its search engine and Chrome browser, keeping other competitors out of reach. In 2022, the court upheld this decision and slightly reduced the fine to 4.1 billion euros.
Google filed a new challenge in the Supreme Court, claiming that the case was baseless and that the fine punished innovation. In the first phase, the company accused the EU of neglecting Apple’s practice of prioritizing its own services over Safari on the iPhone.
He also argued that customers are not forced to use Google products and are only one step away from downloading competing apps.
The EU’s Supreme Court ruled that the first-instance judgment did not err in law when assessing the ‘antitrust effect of pre-set terms in contracts with Android’.
Dismissing all other legal arguments of Google, it ordered to pay the legal expenses of the Commission. Google said the ruling “doesn’t recognize its huge investment in keeping Android open, secure and free.”
“Regardless, we have changed our agreements as decided earlier in 2018 and are focused on innovation and openness for our users, partners and developers,” the company said in a statement issued by a spokesperson.
The verdict was not entirely surprising. In June last year, an EU Supreme Court adviser recommended the fine be upheld, calling Google’s arguments “ineffective”. The European consumer group called it a “big win for Europe” but said swift action was needed to rein in the big tech companies.