European Union regulators slapped Google with a record fine of 4.34 billion euros on Wednesday for antitrust violations involving its Android mobile operating system.
Equivalent to roughly $5.1 billion, the fine was imposed by the European Commission after an antitrust investigation determined that Google abused its position in the mobile phone market by requiring that manufacturers of Android devices ship their products installed with Google’s Search app and web browser app, Chrome.
Google illegally compensated major cellphone makers for exclusively including Google apps on their product while also preventing manufacturers from selling devices capable of running alternative versions of Android, or “forks,” regulators also found.
“In this way, Google has used Android as a vehicle to cement the dominance of its search engine,” said Margrethe Vestager, a Danish politician who serves as the E.U. commissioner in charge of competition policy. “These practices have denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete on the merits. They have denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition in the important mobile sphere. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules,” she said in a statement.
“Our decision stops Google from controlling which search and browser apps manufacturers can pre-install on Android devices or which Android operating system they can adopt,” she added during a news conference.
Google has 90 days to end its practices before facing further penalties, including fines of up to 5 percent of the daily revenue generated by Alphabet, Google’s parent company, the commission concluded.
Google will appeal the ruling, said CEO Sundar Pichai.
“Rapid innovation, wide choice, and falling prices are classic hallmarks of robust competition and Android has enabled all of them,” he wrote in a blog post. “Today’s decision rejects the business model that supports Android, which has created more choice for everyone, not less.”
Russian antitrust regulators previously fined Google roughly $6.75 million after an investigation similarly concluded that the company had abused its position in the mobile market by forcing Android devices to come installed with Google apps.
The largest fine imposed by European antitrust regulators prior to Wednesday was 2.4 billion euros, or about $2.8 billion, in 2017. Also imposed on Google, that fine came in response to authorities finding that the company illegally prioritized its own services among internet search results.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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