Europe’s highest court has rejected Google’s final appeal against a multibillion-euro antitrust penalty, bringing one of the European Union’s longest-running competition cases to a close. The ruling confirms a Google Android antitrust fine of €4.1 billion ($4.7 billion) over practices that regulators said unfairly strengthened the company’s dominance in the mobile ecosystem.
The decision leaves in place the European Commission’s findings that Google used Android licensing agreements to favor its own search engine and browser.
Court Confirms Google’s Android Practices Restricted Competition
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) upheld an earlier judgment from the General Court, agreeing that Google abused its dominant market position through several contractual practices tied to Android devices.
The case dates back to 2018, when the European Commission concluded that Google imposed restrictions on smartphone manufacturers that limited competition across the Android ecosystem.
According to regulators, those practices included:
- Requiring manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Google Chrome to obtain a license for the Google Play Store
- Preventing manufacturers from selling devices running Android versions that Google had not approved through anti-fragmentation agreements
- Offering revenue-sharing agreements that encouraged the exclusive pre-installation of Google Search
Final Appeal Ends Years of Legal Challenges
The European Commission originally imposed a €4.34 billion penalty in 2018.
In 2022, the General Court removed part of the Commission’s findings related to certain revenue-sharing agreements and reduced the penalty to €4.125 billion. However, it upheld the majority of the Commission’s decision.
Google challenged that ruling before the CJEU, but Europe’s highest court has now dismissed the company’s final appeal.
The judges concluded that the General Court correctly assessed the anti-competitive effects of Google’s Android agreements. They also ruled that the lower court did not need to perform a counterfactual analysis in every instance to determine whether Google had abused its dominant market position.
The court further agreed that Google’s pre-installation requirements and anti-fragmentation agreements restricted competition and reinforced the company’s dominance within the Android ecosystem.
Google Says Android Remains Open and Competitive
Following the ruling, Google defended its Android business model and argued that the Commission’s decision reflects outdated market conditions rather than today’s mobile ecosystem.
The company said Android continues to provide consumers, developers, and manufacturers with an open, interoperable, and free platform while supporting thousands of businesses worldwide.
Google also noted that it revised its Android agreements after the European Commission issued its original decision in 2018.
According to the company, it introduced additional user choice measures in 2021 and implemented more than 20 product changes after the Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into force in 2024. Those updates included expanded choice screens that allow users to select alternative browsers and search engines.
Google Points to Competition From Apple
Google also disputed the Commission’s assessment of the mobile market, arguing that regulators underestimated the competitive pressure created by Apple’s iOS.
The company maintains that Android competes directly with Apple’s platform for both consumers purchasing smartphones and developers deciding where to build applications.
Google added that Android device manufacturers continue to compete aggressively on pricing, hardware features, and software capabilities despite the contractual changes introduced over the past several years.
The CJEU ruling brings the legal dispute to an end, leaving the Google Android antitrust fine in place and reinforcing the European Union’s long-standing efforts to curb anti-competitive practices by major technology companies.
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