LUXEMBOURG, Sept 14 – Google suffered one of its biggest setbacks on Wednesday when Europe’s top court fined it 4.125 billion euros ($4.13 billion) for using its Android mobile operating system to thwart competitors, setting a precedent for other regulatory authorities. pressure increase.
A unit of U.S. tech giant Alphabet ( GOOGL.O ) challenged the earlier decision, but the ruling was upheld by Europe’s second highest court on Wednesday and the fine was reduced only slightly from 4.34 billion euros.
It is a record fine for antitrust violations. The EU’s antitrust authority has fined the world’s most popular internet search engine a total of 8.25 billion euros in three investigations spanning more than a decade.
It is the second court defeat for Google, which lost its 2.42 billion euro ($2.42 billion) fine last year, the first of three cases.
“The General Court largely upholds the Commission’s decision that Google imposed unlawful restrictions on Android mobile device manufacturers and mobile network operators in order to consolidate the dominant position of its search engine,” the court said.
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“In order to take better account of the gravity and duration of the infringement, the Tribunal considers it appropriate to impose a fine of €4.125 billion on Google, its reasoning differing in certain respects from that of the Commission,” the judges said.
Google, which can appeal legal matters to the European Court of Justice, Europe’s highest court, expressed its disappointment.