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Google’s hopes of overturning a record EU competition fine was dealt a severe blow on Thursday, following a ruling that supports findings by Brussels regulators that the tech giant had used its Android mobile phone operating system to squash rivals.
Juliane Kokott, advocate-general of the European Court of Justice, the EU’s highest court, said that a €4.12bn fine issued against the US company should be upheld.
While not legally binding, the majority of such opinions are followed by the EU’s highest court.
The win provides a boost to the European Commission, which is seeking to enforce tough new rules aimed at holding the world’s largest tech companies to account.
The Android case dates back to 2018, when the EU accused Google of imposing illegal restrictions on Android device makers and mobile network operators “to cement its dominant position” in internet search.
The fine was part of a trio of cases against Alphabet-owned Google, which has seen regulators fine the company a total of €8bn over the past decade.
The EU’s top court has already backed the bloc’s decision to fine the tech giant €2.42bn for favouring its own comparison shopping service ahead of rivals, which can no longer be appealed against.
But Google did win its appeal against a €1.5bn fine from 2019 for blocking competitors in the online advertising market, which the General Court annulled last year.
Separately, the EU is wrapping up its investigation into Google’s online advertising technology, which it launched in 2023.
