London, September 27 (BUS) – Google is heading to a major EU court on Monday to appeal a record EU antitrust penalty imposed for stifling competition through the dominance of its Android operating system.
The company is fighting a 2018 decision by the European Union’s executive commission, the bloc’s largest antitrust enforcement body, that resulted in a fine of 4.34 billion euros ($5 billion) – still the largest fine ever imposed by Brussels for anti-competitive behaviour.
It’s one of three antitrust penalties totaling more than $8 billion the commission hit Google between 2017 and 2019. The others focused on shopping and search, and the California company appealed all three. While the penalties involved huge sums, critics point out that Google can easily afford them and the fines have done little to expand competition, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The commission said in its original decision that Google’s practices restrict competition and reduce choices for consumers.
However, Google plans to say that the free and open source Android platform has lowered phone prices and pushed competition with its main competitor, Apple.
“Android has created more options for everyone, not less, and supports thousands of successful companies in Europe and around the world. This case is not supported by facts or law,” the company said as the five-day hearing in the General Court of the European Court of Justice begins. “.
The European Union Commission declined to comment.
Android is the most popular mobile operating system, outperforming even Apple’s iOS, and is present on four out of five devices in Europe.
The Commission ruled that Google broke EU rules by requiring smartphone makers to take a bundle of Google apps if they wanted any at all, and banned them from selling devices with modified versions of Android.
The bundle contains 11 apps, including YouTube, Maps and Gmail, but the organizers focused on the three with the largest market share: Google Search, Chrome and the company’s own Play Store for apps.
Google’s position is that because Android is open source and free, phone makers or consumers can decide for themselves which apps to install on their devices. Because it’s the only Android development and maintenance costs that Google has to find ways to recoup these expenses, so their solution is to include apps that will generate revenue, such as Search and Chrome.
The company also argues that just because its apps are pre-installed on Android phones, it doesn’t mean that users are excluded from downloading competing services.
The Commission also handled Google payments to wireless carriers and phone makers to exclusively pre-install the Google Search app. But Google said these deals make up less than 5% of the market, so they can’t hurt competitors.
Following the ruling, Google made some changes to address the issues, including giving European Android users the option of a browser and search app, and charging device makers to pre-install their apps.
RAE