The European Union's highest court has upheld a €4.125 billion ($4.8 billion) antitrust fine against Google, bringing to an end the company's appeal over allegations that it abused Android's dominant market position to strengthen its search business.
The ruling confirms that Google engaged in anticompetitive practices through a series of contractual restrictions imposed on Android device makers and mobile network operators.
The decision, issued today by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), dismisses the appeal filed by Google and its parent company, Alphabet, against a 2022 General Court judgment. While the lower court had already reduced the European Commission's original 2018 penalty from €4.34 billion to €4.125 billion after partially annulling one aspect of the Commission's findings, the CJEU has now confirmed that revised fine in full.
The case stems from a European Commission decision adopted in July 2018, which concluded that Google had abused its dominant position in online search by using Android licensing agreements to secure preferential placement for its own services. According to the Commission, manufacturers seeking access to the Google Play Store were required to pre-install Google Search and the Chrome browser on their devices. In addition, Google imposed so-called anti-fragmentation agreements that prevented manufacturers from selling devices running Android forks not approved by Google.
The Commission also challenged Google's revenue-sharing agreements, under which some manufacturers and mobile network operators received a portion of Google's advertising revenue in exchange for agreeing not to pre-install competing search services on specified devices. Although the General Court later annulled that portion of the Commission's findings, it concluded that the remaining restrictions still formed part of a single, continuous anticompetitive strategy, reducing the fine while leaving the core infringement intact.
In its latest ruling, the Court of Justice agreed with that assessment. Judges found that the General Court had correctly evaluated the economic context surrounding Google's Android agreements and was not required to perform a counterfactual analysis in every instance to establish abuse of a dominant position. The court also accepted the finding that users exhibit a “status quo bias” toward pre-installed applications and concluded that Google had failed to demonstrate that consumer preferences or the quality of its services alone could explain the observed market outcomes.
The court further ruled that regulators were not required to prove that Google's practices could exclude only equally efficient competitors before determining that the practices were anticompetitive. Given the characteristics of digital markets, the judges found that the contractual restrictions were capable of limiting competition and reinforcing barriers to entry. They also upheld the findings regarding Google's anti-fragmentation agreements, concluding that those arrangements restricted opportunities for competing Android versions and helped preserve Google's dominant position.
Following the judgment, Google defended its Android business model and argued that it had already modified its practices years ago.
“Android provides more choice for everyone and supports thousands of businesses. This judgment fails to recognize our significant investment to ensure Android remains open, interoperable and free. In any event, we adapted our agreements to comply with the initial decision back in 2018, and we remain focused on continued innovation and openness for our users, partners and developers,” a Google spokesperson said.
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