The European General Court in Luxembourg ruled mostly in favour of Brussels’ decision on Wednesday, imposing a record EU competition fine of €4.125bn, reduced from €4.34bn, on Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
Although the dispute with the EU dates back to 2015, the Android case started in 2018 when Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition chief, accused Google of abusing the market dominance of its Android operating system to quash competition, especially in digital advertising.
Google disagrees with the General Court ruling, and has decided to appeal. “We are disappointed that the Court did not annul the decision in full. Android has created more choice for everyone, not less, and supports thousands of successful businesses in Europe and around the world,” said Google.
Over the past decade, regulators have fined the company a total of €8.25bn for various antitrust transgressions. Last year, the EU won an appeal against Google to fine the company €2.42bn for favoring its own comparison shopping service ahead of rivals.
Google is also appealing against a €1.5bn fine from 2019 for blocking competitors in the online advertising market.
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