EU Court Advisor Backs 41.25 Billion Euro Fine on Google

In a pivotal development in the protracted antitrust dispute, a senior legal advisor to the European Union's highest court has endorsed the bloc's antitrust regulator in its case against Google. The advisor, Juliane Kokott, has advised the court to uphold a 41.25 billion euro fine imposed on the tech giant for abusing its dominant position in the mobile search market. This recommendation, though not binding, is expected to sway the court's final decision, anticipated in the coming months.

The dispute traces back to 2018 when the European Commission determined that Google had leveraged its Android mobile operating system to unfairly promote its own services over competitors. The original fine was 43.4 billion euros, but this was lowered to 41.25 billion euros by the General Court of the European Union in 2022. Google subsequently appealed this ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Kokott's opinion, released on Thursday, contends that comparing Google's situation to that of a hypothetical equally efficient competitor is impractical. She highlights that Google has maintained a dominant position in multiple markets related to the Android system for many years, enabling it to benefit from ensuring users utilize its services, such as Google Search.

The fine is part of an extended antitrust case involving Google's Android operating system. The record-breaking penalty was first announced in July 2018, when the European Commission fined Google 43.4 billion euros for abusing its dominant position in the internet search market. The commission found that Google had made deals with smartphone manufacturers to pre-install its applications, giving them an unfair advantage over competitors.

Google has consistently argued that its practices have created more choices for users and supported thousands of successful businesses across Europe and the world. However, the company expressed disappointment with Kokott's opinion, stating that adopting it could deter investment in open platforms and ultimately harm users, developers, and business partners.

The European Commission has asserted that Google's illegal practices date back to 2011, when it required manufacturers to pre-install Google Search, Chrome browser, and the Google Play app store on Android devices. Google also paid manufacturers to exclusively pre-install its search engine and prohibited them from using competing versions of the Android system.

Over the past decade, Google has accumulated approximately 82.5 billion euros in antitrust fines from the European Union. Last year, the company failed to have a 24 billion euro fine, related to how its shopping search ranks results from competing price comparison sites, overturned. The outcome of this latest case could have significant implications for Google's operations in Europe and beyond, as well as for the broader tech industry.