Google's fight against a record European Union antitrust fine of 4.1 billion euros ($4.7 billion) failed after the general counsel of the EU's highest court said regulators had grounds to punish the US giant for abusing Android's market power.
General Counsel Iuliane Cocotte of the Court of Justice of the European Union, in a non-binding opinion, noted that Google's appeal should be rejected, as the company's legal arguments were insufficient. "Google has dominated several markets in the Android ecosystem and, thanks to network effects, has enabled users to use Google Search," said Cocotte. "As a result, Google gained access to data that allowed it to improve its services."
The final decisions of the EU's highest court often take into account the views of its advisers, usually several months after their publication. The fine in the Android case-originally worth 4.3 billion euros, but then slightly reduced by the EU General Court in 2022-is one of a series of EU antitrust sanctions against major tech companies. The measures have caused tension between European regulators and Silicon Valley CEOs, with former US President Donald Trump calling the fines "tariffs against American companies."
The Android case is one of four key cases in a campaign by former European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager to curb the growing power of large IT companies. Before being replaced as EU antitrust commissioner by Spanish socialist Teresa Ribera, Vestager imposed fines totaling more than 8 billion euros on Google and supported the position of the US Department of Justice that Google's advertising business should be divided — a similar position is taken by Ribera.
The final decision of the EU's highest court may play a key role in the future of Android's business model, which involves providing free software in exchange for compliance with conditions for mobile device manufacturers. It was these contracts that outraged the European Commission in 2018, when the regulator accused Google (Alphabet Inc.) of three forms of illegal behavior that helped strengthen the search engine's dominance, and imposed a record fine.
First, Google illegally required phone manufacturers to pre-install the Google Search app and the Chrome browser as a condition for obtaining a license for the Play Store, the Android app store. Secondly, the EU said that Google paid money to major manufacturers and operators on the condition that they would only pre-install the Google Search app. Third, the company prevented manufacturers who wanted to pre-install apps from using alternative versions of Android that were not approved by Google.
In the decision of the EU General Court in September 2022, the judges supported most of the commission's arguments, but reduced the fine from 4.3 billion euros, pointing out insufficient evidence for individual episodes of violation.
At an appeal hearing in January, Google's lawyers argued that the company's success was due to innovation, not "hard methods", and that the EU "punished Google for its outstanding achievements, attractiveness and innovation."
In addition to traditional antitrust cases, Google has also come under intense scrutiny under the EU's Digital Markets Act, which sets strict limits on the behavior of large technology companies. In March, the European Commission warned the Mountain View, California-based company about possible new penalties for allegedly violating the law: favoring its own services in its vast search ecosystem and preventing app developers from directing users to offers outside the Play Store.
