EU slaps Google with $5 billion fine
The European Commission has fined Google a record $5 billion over what it says was illegal restrictions on Android device manufactures and mobile operators in violation of EU antitrust rules. The fine is in addition to the $2.7 billion fine levied against Google by the EC in June 2017 for abusing its search dominance by favoring its own comparison shopping service.
Google has 90 days to end this practice or face an additional penalty of 5% of parent Alphabet’s daily worldwide revenues. The commission had already preliminarily concluded Google had abused its market position.
Google vowed to appeal the decision, saying it “rejects the business model that supports Android.”
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who heads up competition policy, said Google had used Android as a way to insure traffic on mobile devices went through the Google search engine in an effort to “cement” its search dominance, preventing competitors from innovating and competing on the merits of their products.
The commission found that Google:
“Required manufacturers to pre-install the Google Search app and browser app (Chrome), as a condition for licensing Google’s app store (the Play Store);
“Made payments to certain large manufacturers and mobile network operators on condition that they exclusively pre-installed the Google Search app on their devices;
“Prevented manufacturers wishing to pre-install Google apps from selling even a single smart mobile device running on alternative versions of Android that were not approved by Google (so-called “Android forks”).”
photo/ Gerd Altmann
