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Alphabet’s Google faced a potential setback on Thursday as an adviser to Europe’s highest court sided with EU antitrust regulators in the company’s fight against a record 4.34 billion euro ($4.98 billion) fine levied seven years ago.
The European Commission in its 2018 decision said Google had used its Android mobile operating system to block rivals. A lower tribunal endorsed the EU finding in 2022 but trimmed the fine to 4.1 billion euros, prompting Google to appeal to Europe’s top court.
Advocate-General at the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) Juliane Kokott, in her non-binding opinion, advised the court to dismiss Google’s appeal and confirm the reduced fine set by the lower tribunal.
Kokott dismissed Google’s argument that regulators should compare Google with a rival in assessing the situation
Regulators said Google’s illegal practices dated back to 2011, as it required manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and its Chrome browser together with its Google Play app store on their Android devices. It paid them to pre-install only Google Search and blocked them from using rival Android systems.
Google’s Android system, which it lets device makers use for free, runs about 73% of the world’s smartphones, according to Statcounter.