Google loses EU court appeal over 4.1 billion euro Android antitrust fine

Google and parent Alphabet lost their final appeal at the European Union's top court over a 4.1 billion euro Android antitrust fine, cementing the bloc's largest antitrust penalty and ending an eight-year legal fight. The Court of Justice of the European Union upheld the reduced penalty first imposed by the European Commission in 2018, when regulators said device makers could access Google Play only if they pre-installed Google Search and Chrome, a practice the EU argued leveraged Android's dominance to restrict competition in mobile search and browsers. The original 4.34 billion euro fine was cut to 4.1 billion euro by the General Court in 2022, but the core findings remained intact. Google said the ruling failed to recognize its investment in keeping Android open, interoperable and free, and noted it had already changed its licensing terms in 2018 so manufacturers could license Google Play without installing the full bundle of Google apps. The decision reinforces the EU's increasingly aggressive posture toward major technology platforms as it also deploys the Digital Markets Act and examines new areas including search, advertising and artificial intelligence.