According to The Verge, the European Union upheld the 2018 antitrust charge against Google, asserting that the giant had imposed "illegal restrictions" on Android phone makers to advertise its search engine on mobile devices.
Google has previously made efforts to counter the fine announced in 2018 - a record fine of up to 4.3 billion Euros. However, on the morning of September 14, the European Court of Generalments reduced the fine to 4.1 billion Euros after it "reiterated" its verdict.
This has dealt a serious blow to Google and strengthened the stance of organizations and supporters of the fight against European monopoly.
Initial allegations made in 2018 against Google show that the company has taken advantage of its dominance in the market to limit the market and sales methods of Android phone manufacturers.
According to the European Commission's ruling, Google has broken EU rules by requiring smartphone manufacturers to use Google's application packages, notably the three applications Google Search, Chrome and the Play Store.
According to the European Commission's analysis, Google feels that the unceasing development and emergence of smartphones is an unpredictable threat to the company's search business. The reason is that the giant phone manufacturers will powerfully equip their own search engine to become the center of the device.
Google made arguments in response to the incident shortly after the defendant. In it, the company emphasized that the committee's assessment was inaccurate when saying that they were dominating the mobile market because iOS was still there firmly; and their actions were necessary to prevent the Android ecosystem from folding into many compatible operating systems.
Although the court's ruling maintains most of the committee's initial allegations, the court also found that Google's plans to share revenue with manufacturers show no signs of overusing Google's market. Therefore, the corresponding fine has decreased by about 5% to 4.1 billion Euros. This is still a record fine for antitrust violations. Google can appeal the case within two to ten days of the date of the decision announcement.
A Google spokesperson expressed disappointment with the new ruling: We are disappointed that the court did not overturn all the decisions. Android has created more choices for everyone, and supported thousands of successful businesses in Europe as well as around the world.
The lawsuit is just one of three major antitrust lawsuits the US technology giant is facing.
