The European Union’s top court has upheld the record antitrust fine of €4.1 billion ($4.67 billion) levied on Alphabet Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google over alleged anti-competitive practices.
On Thursday, the Court of Justice rejected Google’s appeal against the penalty, thereby affirming the fine imposed for its anti-competitive practices related to the Android operating system.
The search engine giant’s shares fell 1.03% in pre-market trading/
The court’s decision was communicated in a press release, stating, “The Court of Justice dismisses the appeal brought by Google and Alphabet against that judgment of the General Court, thereby confirming the penalty imposed on them, as revised by the General Court, for their anticompetitive practices relating to the Android operating system.”
Reacting to the ruling, Google told Reuters it had already updated its agreements in 2018 to comply with the original decision and remains focused on innovation and openness for users, partners, and developers.
Google Faces Growing EU Pressure
This ruling comes in the backdrop of increasing scrutiny on Google’s practices in Europe. In 2018, the European Commission fined Google for abusing Android’s market dominance to favor its own apps. A lower EU court reduced the penalty to €4.1 billion in 2022, and Google has continued to appeal the ruling.
On Wednesday, Stockholm’s Patent and Market Court awarded Klarna Group plc’s (NYSE:KLAR) PriceRunner unit $1.97 billion in an antitrust case, finding that Google unfairly favored its own comparison-shopping service, harming competitors and consumers.
Meanwhile, last week, President Donald Trump warned that the U.S. would impose 100% tariffs on imports from countries that adopt digital services taxes targeting American tech companies, including Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet, and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). Trump particularly pointed to “Numerous European Countries.”
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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