Google’s Android Antitrust Appeal Faces Major Blow at Europe’s Top Court

Key Takeaways

• Google Faces Major Setback: An adviser to the EU’s top court recommended upholding a €4.1 billion fine against Google for antitrust violations tied to its Android mobile operating system.
• Advocate-General Rejects Appeal: Advocate-General Juliane Kokott found Google’s legal arguments “ineffective” and said comparing its position to a hypothetical equally efficient competitor was unrealistic.
• Court Likely to Follow Advice: While non-binding, Kokott’s opinions are followed in most cases. A final ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union is expected in the coming months.
• EU Found Abuse of Dominance: Regulators said Google used Android contracts to force pre-installation of Google Search and Chrome, while blocking rival systems—practices dating back to 2011.
• Google Warns of Broader Impact: The company said the opinion, if upheld, could discourage investment in open platforms and negatively affect Android users, partners, and developers.

Deep Dive

Alphabet’s Google may be heading toward a fresh defeat in its years-long battle with European regulators, after an influential adviser to the EU’s top court recommended upholding a record antitrust fine tied to the tech giant’s Android mobile software, as reported by Bloomberg.

In a non-binding opinion published Thursday, Advocate-General Juliane Kokott of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) advised the court to reject Google’s appeal and maintain a reduced €4.1 billion fine, originally handed down by the European Commission in 2018 for abusing its dominance in the Android ecosystem. The decision follows an earlier endorsement of the Commission’s findings by a lower tribunal in 2022, which trimmed the initial €4.34 billion fine slightly.

“The legal arguments put forward by Google are ineffective,” Kokott wrote in her opinion.

Google had argued that its behavior should be compared to that of a hypothetical equally efficient competitor, an argument Kokott dismissed as unrealistic given the company’s entrenched dominance.

“Google held a dominant position in several markets of the Android-ecosystem and thus benefited from network effects that enabled it to ensure that users used Google Search,” she said.

While Kokott’s opinion is not legally binding, the CJEU follows such recommendations in the majority of cases. A final judgment is expected in the coming months.

In a statement, a Google spokesperson expressed disappointment with the opinion, warning that if upheld, it could harm the open-platform model that Android is based on, “We are disappointed with the Opinion which, if it were followed by the Court, would discourage investment in open platforms and harm Android users, partners and app developers.”

At the heart of the case is the European Commission’s finding that Google, beginning in 2011, used contractual restrictions to cement the dominance of its search and browser apps. Specifically, regulators said Google required Android device manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome alongside the Google Play Store, paid some to pre-install only Google Search, and blocked the use of rival Android versions.

The Commission’s Android decision is part of a broader EU crackdown on Google’s market power. In total, the company has amassed €8.25 billion in EU antitrust fines over the past decade across three major cases, with further investigations still ongoing.

Despite Google offering Android free of charge, the platform powers roughly 73% of the world’s smartphones, according to Statcounter, giving the company extraordinary reach in the mobile space and, regulators argue, outsized leverage over app distribution and search defaults.

If the court follows Kokott’s advice, it would mark another significant win for EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager and a broader shift in antitrust enforcement aimed at reining in Big Tech’s influence across the bloc.

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