Europe’s highest court has brought Google’s years-long legal battle to an end, upholding a record €4.1 billion antitrust fine over Android. It remains the largest penalty ever imposed by the European Commission. The ruling is expected to strengthen the EU’s campaign against the market power of Big Tech.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that a Commission-imposed fine on Google for abusing its market power in mobile operating systems was justified. MEP Rasmus Andresen (Greens-EFA/DEU) welcomed the decision saying the EU is “showing its teeth against the dominance of tech giants”.
An investigation launched by the European Commission found in 2018 that Google and its parent company, Alphabet, had abused their dominant market position. Android, Google’s open-source system, is the world’s most widely used operating system. The Commission concluded that requiring Android smartphone and tablet manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and the Chrome web browser as a condition for access to its app store, Play, was anti-competitive.
Google was also accused of requiring manufacturers and mobile network operators to exclusively pre-install the Google Search app on their devices as well as placing restrictions on the development of alternative versions of Android — so-called Android forks.
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This “tying and bundling” of its own apps on third-party Android devices formed the crux of the Commission’s decision to impose the penalty — the largest ever issued by the EU body.
Precedent for future cases
Google appealed the decision arguing among other things that Android competes intensely with Apple’s iOS. But in 2022, the General Court largely confirmed the Commission’s decision, only slightly reducing the fine from €4.3 billion to €4.1 billion.
The court ruled that the pre-installation conditions Google imposed on manufacturers were indeed abusive and in breach of EU antitrust rules. It also agreed that the company had illegally imposed restrictions on manufacturers preventing them from selling even a single mobile device running on alternative versions of Android.
Google appealed again.
Thursday’s ECJ ruling now marks the end of the running battle and establishes a legally binding precedent for future cases. The court essentially found the General Court did not err in law when assessing the anticompetitive effects.
An effective deterrent?
The ECJ also said that the General Court was entitled to take into account “the relevant economic context in its entirety, including the revenue share agreements”, without having to systematically carry out “any counterfactual analysis in order to establish an infringement of the prohibition of abuse of a dominant position”.
“The ECJ ruling now gives the Commission the momentum to consistently enforce the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in order to break up Big Tech’s market power and rein in tech giants,” said Mr Andresen.
While the record-breaking penalty should act as a deterrent, he argued that fines alone are not enough if they represent only a small fraction of the profits generated through years of market dominance. “They remain little more than a licence fee for the abuse of power,” Mr Andresen said. Only consistent enforcement of competition rules, alongside measures such as a Digital Services Tax, would make digital markets fairer in the long term, he added.
In 2025, Alphabet reported net income of $132.17bn.
Big win for consumers
Google disagrees with the ruling. “Android provides more choice for everyone and supports thousands of businesses. This judgment fails to recognise our significant investment to ensure Android remains open, interoperable and free,” the company’s spokesperson stated. He added that Google adapted its agreements to comply with the initial decision from 2018 and remains focused on “continued innovation and openness for our users, partners and developers”.
Thousands of developers and manufacturers do use the free Android system to build businesses. But Google’s practices limited meaningful choice for consumers because competitors could not offset the advantages that Google’s services would enjoy, argued European consumer organisation, BEUC.
Specifically, BEUC said that pre-installed apps and contractual restrictions made it difficult for consumers to switch, sidelining competing search engines and browsers particularly when combined with humans’ well-known bias for the ‘status quo’.
BEUC Director General Agustín Reyna said the ruling is a big win for Europe. He underscored the need for stronger enforcement of the Digital Markets Act to prevent similar practices in the future. “For years, Android users were steered towards Google search and the Chrome browser, leaving little room for alternatives to challenge, even those offering greater innovative solutions or better privacy settings,” he noted. Reyna added that Europe must act much faster to curb the power of Big Tech and give smaller companies a fair chance to grow and bring innovative services to consumers.
BEUC contributed to the Commission’s Google Android investigation as an interested third party. It intervened at the General Court and the Court of Justice in support of the Commission’s July 2018 antitrust decision.
