The ruling brings an end to Google's appeal against the landmark penalty, originally imposed by the European Commission in 2018. Regulators had initially fined the company €4.3 billion, but the amount was reduced to €4.1 billion in 2022. The latest judgment confirms that revised penalty, making it one of the largest antitrust sanctions ever imposed by the European Union.
Responding to the decision, a Google spokesperson criticized the ruling, saying it "fails to recognise" the company's "significant investment to ensure Android remains open, interoperable and free."
The spokesperson added: "In any event, we adapted our agreements to comply with the initial decision back in 2018 and we remain focused on continued innovation and openness for our users, partners and developers."
Why Google Was Fined
The case centered on claims that Google used Android's market dominance to limit consumer choice and disadvantage rival companies.
According to the European Commission, Google engaged in three anti-competitive practices:
- Requiring smartphone and tablet manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Google Chrome as a condition for gaining access to the Google Play Store.
- Offering financial incentives to major manufacturers and mobile network operators that agreed to exclusively pre-install Google Search on their devices.
- Restricting manufacturers from selling devices running alternative "forked" versions of Android by threatening to withhold licenses for Google's suite of apps.
Regulators argued that these practices strengthened Google's position in online search and web browsing while making it more difficult for competing services to gain market access.
However, authorities also acknowledged that Android users remained free to download rival browsers and select alternative search engines after purchasing their devices.
Google's Longstanding Defense
When the European Commission first announced the penalty in 2018, Google strongly rejected the findings.
Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai argued that the decision ignored the benefits Android had delivered to consumers and developers.
In a blog post published at the time, Pichai wrote that the ruling "rejects the business model that supports Android, which has created more choice for everyone, not less."
A Series of EU Antitrust Battles
The Android case is only one of several major competition disputes between Google and European regulators.
In September 2024, the company was ordered to pay €2.4 billion after regulators found it had abused the dominance of its shopping comparison service by giving preferential treatment to its own products in search results.
A year later, in September 2025, the European Commission imposed another €2.95 billion fine after concluding that Google had unfairly favored its own online advertising services over those of competitors.
Record Fines Continue to Mount
While the Android penalty remains one of the European Union's largest antitrust fines, it is not the biggest financial sanction Google has ever faced globally.
In October 2024, a Russian court imposed an extraordinary fine over Google's restrictions on Russian state media channels on YouTube. The penalty—set at two undecillion rubles—was so enormous that it exceeded the estimated value of the world's entire gross domestic product, making it largely symbolic rather than practically enforceable.
The latest ruling reinforces the European Union's increasingly aggressive stance on regulating major technology companies and sends another strong signal that competition authorities remain committed to curbing the market power of Big Tech.