TECH NEWS – After the European Union slammed a 4.3-billion euro fine onto Alphabet, Google’s parent company didn’t accept the decision.

In July, an antitrust order came towards Google, allegedly using strong-arm tactics to push out competing search engines and monopolize the market share. The BBC reports that Google’s (or Alphabet’s..) lawyers appeared in court on Thursday, arguing that the fine should be overturned. They also argued to strike down a 2018 antitrust order because Google’s success is because of consumer preference. The lawyers went as far as to claim that the most popular search term on Bing is “Google.”

“We have submitted evidence showing that the most common search query on Bing is by far Google. People use Google because they choose to, not because they are forced to. Google’s market share in general search is consistent with consumer surveys showing that 95% of users prefer Google to rival search engines,” said Alfonso Lamadrid, a lawyer for Alphabet Inc., as reported by Bloomberg.

According to the European Commission’s lawyers, the tech giant acted illegally by forcing phone and tablet manufacturers to pre-install Chome on its phones by refusing to license the Google Play Store otherwise, which is where most Android users search and download apps; making payments to mobile network providers and manufacturers to exclusively pre-install the Google Search app on their devices; and prevented manufacturers from selling any smart device with alternative versions of Android that didn’t go along with the scheme.

In a July 2018 blog post, Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, wrote, “Today’s decision rejects the business model that supports Android, which has created more choice for everyone, not less. We intend to appeal.” However, the EU’s Competition Commissioner says only 1% of users have downloaded a different search app on mobile devices in Europe…

Source: PCGamer