Illegal Practices on Android
EU reduces billion fine for Google
09/14/2022 10:43 am
To strengthen its position as a search engine, Google imposed unlawful restrictions on mobile network operators. The group has to pay a record fine for this. However, this is now lower than planned.
The US Internet giant Google’s lawsuit against a billion-euro fine by the EU Commission has largely failed. The Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg confirmed a decision by the EU Commission from 2018 to fine Google a record of more than four billion euros for illegal practices with the mobile operating system Android. However, the court reduced the record fine decided at the time from 4.3 billion euros to around 4.1 billion euros, as the court announced. An appeal against the judgment can still be lodged with the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The EU Commission found in 2018 that Google had imposed illegal regulations on smartphone manufacturers and mobile network operators for the use of Android and required them to pre-install certain Google apps. “In this way, Google used Android to consolidate the market dominance of its search engine,” said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, explaining the decision at the time.
Google immediately announced that it wanted to contest the fine. Google is at odds with the EU competition watchdog on a number of issues. It was not until 2021 that a Luxembourg EU court confirmed a billion-euro fine by the Brussels competition authorities against the US technology group.
In this case, they came to the conclusion that the company had given its own price comparison service “Google Shopping” an unlawful advantage. The Federal Cartel Office also has the US group in its sights alongside other Internet giants. Competition in the future field of the digital economy must be protected in cooperation with the EU Commission, the head of the Cartel Office, Andreas Mundt, has repeatedly emphasized. Vestager also wants to protect competition in the digital economy.