TECH NEWS: When a fine represents a negligible share of Google’s parent company’s annual profit, it is practically worthless.

Google has lost another long-running antitrust case in the EU. In 2018, the European Commission imposed a multibillion-euro fine on the company over agreements that forced phone makers to preinstall only Google products, including Search, Chrome, and Play Store, on Android devices, excluding competitors’ products.

Google had appealed the fine until now. The company was originally punished with a €4.34 billion fine, although a lower court reduced that to the still very significant €4.1 billion in 2022.

Google then appealed to Europe’s highest court of appeal, the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union. The court dismissed Google’s appeal and ruled in favor of the European Commission.

That means Google must still pay this historically significant fine. The press release on the judgment states:

“The appeal brought by Google and its parent company, Alphabet, against the judgment of the General Court is dismissed, thereby confirming the penalty imposed for Google Search’s abuse of a dominant position in the context of the Android operating system.”

Over the past decade, Google has received a total of €11 billion in fines for various competition-law infringements within the EU, although the latest €4.1 billion penalty remains a record.

That amounts to barely 3% of Alphabet’s annual profit. It is debatable whether this still counts as a victory, but it may encourage other competition regulators to seek further damages from the search giant.

Earlier this year, the European Commission sought to enforce the Digital Markets Act by proposing that Google share search data with third-party search engines. This would be similar to the data-sharing measure proposed as part of a 2024 US antitrust ruling against Google.

Earlier this year, Google not only intended to appeal the decision but also requested a postponement of the data-sharing requirement. The company argued that it would cause irreparable harm because competitors would gain access to Google’s vast amount of proprietary information.

“Android provides more choice for everyone and supports thousands of businesses. This judgment fails to recognize our significant investment to ensure Android remains open, interoperable, and free. In any event, we adapted our agreements to comply with the initial decision back in 2018, and we remain focused on continued innovation and openness for our users, partners, and developers.” a Google spokesperson said about the court ruling delivered this week.

So what happens now? Nothing. That is all the fine is worth.

Source: PC Gamer, Reuters, Court of Justice of the European Union