“Hong Kong, China – March 19, 2012: Close-up of Android Samsung Galaxy S II screen with social media apps Google Plus, Facebook, Play Store and Google Search.”
Samxmeg | Unpublished source | Getty Images
Europe’s Supreme Court on Thursday upheld GoogleFine of about 4.1 billion euros ($4.67 billion) for alleged anti-competitive practices.
In 2018, the European Commission imposed a record fine on Google on the grounds that it had abused Android’s dominance on mobile devices to give an unfair advantage to its own apps through pre-installation agreements with smartphone makers.
Google appealed this decision through the EU court system. But the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Europe’s highest court, rejected Google’s appeal.
“The Court rejects the appeal brought by Google and Alphabet against this decision of the General Court, thereby confirming the penalty imposed on them as amended by the General Court for their anti-competitive practices regarding the Android operating system,” the EU Court of Justice said in a press release.
CNBC has reached out to Google for comment.
In 2022, a lower EU court reduced the fine to the current 4.1 billion euros from 4.34 billion euros previously.
Big Tech Repression in the EU
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, has been pursuing Google for more than a decade after first opening a case against the company in 2015.
Google has found itself in the Commission’s crosshairs for several alleged antitrust practices. Last year, the Commission fined Google €2.95 billion for anti-competitive practices in the advertising technology industry.
While antitrust remains the Commission’s focus, the regulator is now looking into the practices of big tech companies under the sweeping Digital Markets Act, including companies such as Apple And Meta also under close scrutiny.
Europe’s treatment of American technology companies has angered President Donald Trump and other US officials. Last month, Trump threatened to impose a “100% TARIFF” on the goods of any country that imposes a digital services tax on US companies. European countries such as France and Spain have introduced a digital services tax.
In March, US Ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder told CNBC that Europe “can’t over-regulate” and would impose “huge fines” on companies if they were to participate in the AI economy.
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