According to Reuters, on July 2nd local time, the European Court of Justice ruled to dismiss Google and its parent company Alphabet's appeal against the anti-monopoly penalties imposed by the EU. This means that Google has lost this eight-year lawsuit, and will have to pay a fine of 4.1 billion euros to the EU.
In 2018, the European Commission accused Google of having monopolistic clauses in the agreements it signed with mobile phone manufacturers. These agreements required manufacturers to pre-install Google Search, Chrome browser, and the Google Play Store on Android devices. At the same time, manufacturers were prohibited from using other Android-derived systems. The Commission imposed a fine of 4.34 billion euros on Google.
Google refused to accept the penalty and filed an appeal. In 2022, the European Court of Justice upheld the ruling of the European Commission, but reduced the fine to 4.1 billion euros. Subsequently, Google continued to file appeals with the European Court of Justice, located in Luxembourg.
The European Court ultimately supported the penalty imposed by the EU antitrust authorities. The judgment stated: "All appeals filed by Google and Alphabet were dismissed, confirming that the penalty for Google’s abuse of its dominant market position through the Android operating system and Google Search is valid."
A Google spokesperson responded that the judgment did not take into account the substantial costs incurred by the company in maintaining the openness, compatibility, and free nature of the Android system. "Regardless, we have adjusted our cooperation agreements to comply with regulations since the first ruling in 2018, and we will continue to promote innovation for users, partners, and developers while keeping the system open."
According to reports, over the past few decades, Google has paid a total of nearly 11 billion euros in fines to the European Union due to various anti-monopoly violations. In addition, the European Union is accusing Google of favoring its own products and services in search results, as well as violating regulations regarding app store operations. It is expected that Google will face further fines in the near future.
