Google's Billion-Dollar Headache Isn't Going Anywhere

Large corporations have often been the target of antitrust suits, and Google is no exception. For over a decade, the search giant has been accused of abusing its dominant position in the tech industry to suppress competition. The scope of antitrust suits against Google in the European Union alone has spanned several of its product lines ranging from its advertising platform Google AdSense to Android, its mobile OS. As of 2022, Google has been found guilty in several antitrust cases in the European Union and has been fined in excess of €8 billion (via CNN).

A large chunk of Google's staggering fines is attributed to a case dating back to 2015. Back then, following complaints from several Google clients, the European Union was called to investigate the company's business practices. Following a three-year probe, the Commission concluded in 2018 that Google had imposed several anticompetitive contractual restrictions on device manufacturers and carriers. Per the terms of these contracts, device manufacturers were required to pre-install Google's own search and browser app on mobile devices made by them. In addition, manufacturers not agreeing to Google's terms were denied access to Google's app discovery platform Google Play Store.

After making its observations public, the Commission imposed a record-breaking €4.3 billion fine on Google. In response, Google claimed that the EU ruling was unfortunate and appealed against the Commission's decision in the European General Court. Five years on, a decision has been finally made in the case — and the decision is still largely against Google.

Following nearly half a decade of deliberations, the European General Court largely dismissed the action brought by Google. In its submission to the court, the tech giant claimed that it did not consider itself a dominant player in the smartphone market because of stiff competition from Apple — a company that is embroiled in its own issues against the EU in connection with the standardization of charging ports. Google also claimed that its actions prevented further fragmentation of the Android platform. The court, however, did not find merit in most of Google's claims.

The fresh ruling, however, did result in a lower fine for Google, which was reduced from the equivalent of $4.34 billion to $4.13 billion in 2022. The reduction in the fine amount was largely because the court did not concur with the European Commission's findings about Google's revenue-sharing terms with device manufacturers. Given that the latest ruling comes from the second highest court in Europe, there is a good chance that Google will appeal against this decision, too. However, the company will need to wait for a little over two months to file this anticipated appeal. 

Nevertheless, there is no denying that the latest court ruling against Google is a major setback for the company. Notably, even with the slight reduction in the fine amount, the revised amount is still the largest fine amount imposed on any company by the European Commission.