WHAT JUST HAPPENED? A long-running legal fight over Android has ended in a clear defeat for Google, cementing one of the largest antitrust penalties ever imposed by the European Union. On Thursday, the European Court of Justice upheld a €4.1 billion ($4.7 billion) fine against the company, agreeing with regulators that Google used Android to strengthen its dominance in online search. The case has been winding its way through EU courts since the European Commission first imposed the penalty in 2018.
"The appeal brought by Google and its parent company Alphabet against the judgment of the General Court is dismissed, thereby confirming the penalty imposed for Google Search's abuse of a dominant position in the context of the Android operating system," the court said.
At issue was not Android itself, but how Google structured the ecosystem around it. While the operating system is distributed free of charge, regulators argued that the business model came with strings attached – specifically, requirements that shaped which software appeared on devices and how manufacturers could use the platform.
According to the European Commission, Google required phone makers to pre-install its Search app and Chrome browser to gain access to the Play Store, the primary distribution channel for Android apps. Without it, most devices would struggle to compete.
