EU top court upholds €4.1 billion antitrust fine against Google
The European Union's top court has dismissed Google's final appeal against a record €4.1 billion antitrust fine, confirming one of Brussels' most significant victories in its long-running effort to rein in Big Tech. The Court of Justice of the European Union announced on Thursday that it had rejected the appeal brought by Google against a 2022 ruling by the EU's General Court, which upheld the bulk of the European Commission's case over the company's Android mobile operating system.
The ruling brings to a close a legal fight that has run for eight years since the fine was first handed down, and is seen as likely to embolden further antitrust cases in the EU and elsewhere.
Coverage comparison
The decision was widely covered by European and international media. Deutsche Welle reported that the EU's top court ruled against Google's appeal on Thursday, upholding the fine of €4.125 billion ($4.67 billion). France 24 noted that the court dismissed the appeal, confirming the penalty for "Google Search's abuse of a dominant position in the context of the Android operating system." RFI reported that the European Court of Justice dismissed the US tech giant's second attempt to overturn the penalty, which remains the EU's highest-ever antitrust fine. The Hindu highlighted that the ruling is expected to embolden further antitrust cases in the EU and elsewhere.
Key claims
The European Commission originally fined Google more than €4.3 billion in 2018, accusing the US company of using Android's dominance to cement the position of its search engine and browser. The Commission's case was that Google used pre-installation agreements to lock in its own apps and shut competitors out of the Android ecosystem. Specifically, Google pressured phone makers using Android to pre-install Google Search, the Chrome browser, and the Google Play app store, making it harder for rival search engines and browsers to compete.
The EU's General Court upheld the findings in 2022 but trimmed the penalty to €4.1 billion. Google then appealed to the Court of Justice, the EU's highest court, which has now sided with the bloc's antitrust enforcer. The judges stated: "The appeal brought by Google and its parent company Alphabet against the judgment of the General Court is dismissed, thereby confirming the penalty imposed for Google Search's abuse of a dominant position in the context of the Android operating system."
Google had argued that the case was unfounded, saying that the sanction penalized innovation and that Android users were free to download rival apps. The company also accused the EU of being blind to practices by Apple, which gives preference to its own services, such as Safari on iPhones. In response to the ruling, a Google spokesperson said the judgment failed to take into account the company's investment to keep Android "open, interoperable and free," and added that it had "adapted our agreements to comply with the initial decision back in 2018."
Beyond this case, Google has reportedly racked up €11 billion in EU fines over the last decade for various antitrust infringements. Deutsche Welle noted that the EU fined the company more than €8 billion between 2017 and 2019 over antitrust violations. The EU also has other open investigations into the tech giant under its Digital Markets Act (DMA). Among the other sanctions Google faces are a €2.95 billion fine handed down in September 2025 for favoring its own advertising services and a €2.4 billion competition fine for promoting its own shopping services.
US President Donald Trump previously accused Brussels of unfairly targeting American firms and threatened the EU with retaliatory tariffs.
The ruling is likely to have implications beyond Europe. The Hindu noted a similar case in India, where the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in 2022 imposed a penalty of ₹1,337.76 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position across the Android mobile device ecosystem.