Google lost its appeal against the EU's record €4.1 billion antitrust fine
After eight long years, it looks like Google is finally going to have to pay off that big EU fine.
Reuters reported that the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled against Google in its latest attempt to appeal a massive €4.1 billion fine initially imposed in 2018. The EU's reasoning then and now was that Google used the Android operating system in anti-competitive ways, such as heavily incentivizing users to use Google Search and Chrome on new Android devices.
Google did change some of its policies over the years to duck and weave additional EU penalties, but the fine (which comes in at nearly $5 billion in U.S. dollars) is still in place, and now that Google has lost this latest appeal, it might not have much of a choice but to pay it. The "good" news for Google is that, due to a 2022 decision, the fine was cut down from €4.34 billion to €4.1 billion.
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At any rate, Google isn't the first U.S. tech company to learn that the EU is serious about antitrust matters, and it probably won't be the last.
Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.
