Eight years of legal fighting. One final answer. The Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed Google’s last appeal on July 2, confirming the €4.1 billion Android antitrust fine, the largest competition penalty in EU history, is final. There is nowhere left to appeal.
The case traces back to 2018, when the European Commission found Google had abused Android’s dominance to entrench Google Search and Chrome. The specific violations were straightforward but consequential Google required phone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome as a condition for accessing the Play Store, blocked manufacturers from selling Android fork devices if they wanted Google apps, and paid financial incentives to carriers and manufacturers for exclusive Google Search pre-installation. Regulators concluded this made it nearly impossible for competing search engines and browsers to gain meaningful traction on Android.
The original €4.34 billion fine from 2018 was reduced slightly to €4.125 billion by the EU General Court in 2022, which partially overturned one finding. Google appealed that revised decision and lost again, definitively.
Google’s response was measured but pointed, arguing the judgment “fails to recognise” its investment in keeping Android open and that the platform actually increased competition with Apple’s iOS ecosystem. The company has already implemented changes in Europe browser choice screens, unbundled licensing but those changes don’t retroactively affect the fine for past conduct.
This ruling sits alongside Google’s €2.42 billion Shopping fine also upheld as part of the EU’s broadest antitrust campaign ever mounted against a single technology company.
The bill is €4.1 billion. The appeal options are zero. Google pays.
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