EU top court confirms €4.1 billion Google penalty

• Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) lost its appeal as Europe’s top court upheld a €4.1 billion antitrust fine over Android practices.
• The ruling confirms Google required device makers to pre-install its apps and restricted rival Android systems.
• The case adds to nearly €11 billion in EU competition fines against Google across multiple investigations.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) lost its final appeal after the Court of Justice of the European Union upheld a €4.1 billion fine tied to Google’s Android operating system practices.

The case centered on Google agreements that required smartphone makers to pre-install Google Search, Chrome, and the Play Store while limiting the use of competing Android-based systems.

The European Commission originally imposed a €4.34 billion fine in 2018, which a lower tribunal later reduced to €4.1 billion in 2022 before Google escalated the case to the EU’s highest court.

Google said the court decision did not fully account for its investments to keep Android open and interoperable and stated it had already adjusted its agreements following the 2018 decision.

The judgment relates to case C-738/22 P Google and Alphabet v Commission, which confirms findings of abuse of dominant position in the Android ecosystem.

Alphabet has faced close to €11 billion in EU antitrust fines over the past decade across multiple competition cases involving search and platform services.

The ruling reinforces ongoing EU regulatory pressure on major technology platforms under competition law and the Digital Markets Act.