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Google takes fight to topple record fine over Android to EU’s top court

The penalty hits at the heart of the US tech giant’s power over the Android mobile phone ecosystem

The Android case is one of a trio of decisions that have been the centerpiece of the bloc’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager’s bid to rein in the growing dominance of Silicon Valley. Photograph: Stephanie Lecocq/EPA

Thu Dec 1 2022 - 15:41

Google will take its appeal of the record €4.3 billion European Union antitrust fine over its dominance in the Android mobile market to the bloc’s top court.

The penalty hits at the heart of the US tech giant’s power over the Android mobile phone ecosystem, and in September judges at a lower court mostly sided with the European Commission’s arguments but reduced the overall fine to €4.1 billion. Now Google will go to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a ruling on the issue.

“There are areas that require legal clarification,” Google said in a statement Thursday. “Android has created more choice for everyone, not less, and supports thousands of successful businesses in Europe and around the world.”

The Android case is one of a trio of decisions that have been the centrepiece of the bloc’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager’s bid to rein in the growing dominance of Silicon Valley. She’s fined Alphabet’s Google more than €8 billion and has since opened new probes into the company’s suspected stranglehold over digital advertising.

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Vestager has suffered a series of defeats of her fines imposed on tech firms. Most notably the ECJ overruled the EU’s decision to force Apple to pay as much as €14 billion to Ireland in back taxes. Both Ireland and Apple had long contested Vestager’s decision in that case. – Bloomberg

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