Brandon Wade/Reuters
- Google has lost its appeal against a landmark $4 billion antitrust fine in Europe.
- The European Commission issued the fine in 2018 over the dominance of Android.
- Google has been accused of forcing smartphone makers to preinstall its services.
Google will be forced to pay more than $4 billion to the European Union, after judges rejected the firm's appeal against a landmark 2018 antitrust fine.
The tech giant was fined by Europe's competition watchdog for abusing its dominant Android mobile operating system to cement the popularity of Google apps and services.
The EU has fined the tech giant over claims of anticompetitive behavior — involving search, shopping, and Android — three times in three years: first for $2.8 billion in 2017, again for $5 billion in 2018, and once more for $1.7 billion in 2019.
Today's decision from the European Court of Justice comes almost a year after the company lost another appeal against the $2.8 billion EU fine, under which Google was found to have promoted its own shopping service in its search results over competitors.
"The General Court largely confirms the Commission's decision that Google imposed unlawful restrictions on manufacturers of Android mobile devices and mobile network operators in order to consolidate the dominant position of its search engine," the court said.
The company did win a 5% reduction in the fine as a result of its appeal, but it remains the biggest antitrust fine given by Europe's competition regulator against a single firm – cementing the reputation of the European Union's competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, as Silicon Valley's policewoman.
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