Google Suffers Setback in Fight Over EU’s EUR 41 Billion Fine
Google’s multi-billion dollar headache has worsened. The tech giant’s fight to reverse the record €4.1-billion antitrust fine by the EU received a big snub as a key legal advisor backed the regulators’ decision to penalize Google on the ground of it having used Android’s dominance.
A legal snag put a twist on the courtroom saga of Google, as EU law commentator Juliane Kokott has advised the Court of Justice to dismiss Google’s appeal, stating that the company’s arguments indeed do not hold their ground.
According to Kokott, Android dominance of Google was not merely interpreted as a market share issue, but also as a self-perpetuating cycle. The control was such that Google Search had to be the search engine, thereby creating a huge stream of data energized for its continual improvement and thus cementing their hold on the market. It is a network effect feeding data advantage that assigns Google an unshakable edge.
The court’s final verdicts, usually echoing its advisers’ counsel, materialize months later, like legal echoes in the halls of justice.
Google bristled with this opinion, warning that if the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) were to adopt such an interpretation, then innovation would be stifled and finally Android users would bear the consequences.
The European Commission declined to comment.
The Silicon Valley companies are trying to win the battle over the Android fine running into billions – initially a staggering EUR 4.3 billion or some Rs. 42,890 crore, before the EU General Court had an opportunity to bring down the level of the fine in 2022. This particular fine, being one of many levied against the Big Tech, has ignited the usual trans-Atlantic row, with even a touchy Donald Trump having uttered all against these fines, calling them a disguised tariff on American industries.
Once upon a time in the EU, fierce competition champion Margrethe Vestager took the stand against big tech firms, in the big period of their rise. Amber waves of grain, with the Android case standing above, seemed to symbolize the four epic cases on her crusade.
Margrethe Vestager’s tenure as EU antitrust commissioner finished with a bang: the antitrust authorities in Europe issued nearly EUR 8 billion in fines against Google. The Danish politician, now replaced by Spain’s Teresa Ribera, did not only impose these fines but also had the occasion to echo the DOJ idea of breaking Google’s advertising empire-a view that Ribera appears to share, which means that this might be the beginning of aggressive regulatory actions.
The fate of Android’s “free-for-conditions” business model was in the balance, as the EU’s highest court was about to deliver a landmark verdict that could be a redefinition of the mobile landscape. Would the court uphold the system, which gave Android away in return for compliance from manufacturers, or would it dismantle the very bedrock of this operating system?
The contracts had previously provoked major controversies with the commission back in 2018. The watchdog slammed Google, a heavyweight of Alphabet Inc., for not one, but having leveled accusations of three distinct illegal tactics used to fortify its search engine empire. The fine was heavy and set an unprecedented record that reverberated across the industry.
The allegation is: Google is said to have strong-armed phone manufacturers in forcing them to preload Google Search and Chrome in exchange for access to the Play Store – in other words, a digital shakedown.
According to the EU, Google forced device makers into a Faustian bargain: money in exchange for exclusivity. Install Google Search and keep out rival search engines or lose the payout.
At long last came the heavy judgment from Brussels: Google strongarmed OEMs, threatening anybody who dared to pre-load its rebellious, unlicensed cousins on Android devices.
The multi-billion-dollar headache faced by Google got a little less painful in September 2022. While the General Court largely supported the EU Commission’s antitrust allegations, they reduced the original EUR 4.3 billion penalty (a whopping Rs. 42,904 crore), citing lack of evidence for some alleged wrongdoing. So it was kind of a win, albeit partial, in the protracted battle Google is waging against the European regulators.
In January, Google counterattacked by filing an appeal against the EU decision. In rather glowing language, Google insisted their dominance has been created not by muscling competitors, but through better innovation. Their lawyers also argued that, basically, the EU was penalizing them for being too good, too attractive, and too innovative.
Behind the often cinematic antitrust courtroom battles has come a new reckoning for Google: the EU’s Digital Markets Act. This is not mere litigation yet again; it is a fundamental reshaping of Big Tech’s playing field, with Google standing in the middle of its withering new demands.
In March, Brussels had shot its arrows at Google for anti-trust practices executed inside the search-engine kingdom and Play Store fortress. The regulators allege that Google is unfairly promoting services of its own while placing shackles on the app developers whereby they could not offer users some alternative deals. This shot is just a first warning; down the road, Mountain View’s big fish may have to pay huge fines.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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