EU’s top court upholds €4.1bn antitrust fine against Google over Android dominance

The European Union Court of Justice on Thursday upheld Google’s record €4.1 billion fine over alleged anticompetitive practices related to the company’s Android operating system.

The European Commission hit the US tech giant with the penalty in 2018, alleging that the firm had abused its dominant market position, particularly by using pre-installation agreements with phone makers to give an unfair advantage to its search engine and Chrome browser.

An initial fine of €4.3 billion was imposed, but the EU’s General Court reduced this to €4.1 billion in 2022.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has argued that the Android system has created "more choice, not less".

Pichai said in 2018 that the Commission’s decision to fine the company "misses just how much choice Android provides" to phone makers, app developers, and customers.

"Rapid innovation, wide choice, and falling prices are classic hallmarks of robust competition and Android has enabled all of them," he said.

Google has since appealed the penalty, but the EU’s top court dismissed the appeal on Thursday.

"The Court of Justice dismisses the appeal brought by Google and Alphabet against that judgment of the General Court, thereby confirming the penalty imposed on them, as revised by the General Court, for their anticompetitive practices relating to the Android operating system," the court said in a press release announcing the decision.

In 2025, the Commission also slapped Google with a €2.95 billion fine over alleged breaches of antitrust practices.

It said the company had distorted competition in the advertising technology industry, "favouring its own online display advertising technology services to the detriment of competing providers of advertising technology services, advertisers and online publishers".