Europe’s top court has dismissed Google’s final appeal against a €4.1bn (£3.5bn) fine for using its Android mobile operating system to stifle competition, the largest penalty the European Commission has ever imposed on the tech giant.
The European Commission originally handed down a €4.3bn (then £3.9bn) fine in 2018, later trimmed to €4.1bn in 2022. Google’s appeal against that decision has now been rejected, leaving the company with a bill that underlines the EU’s determination to curb the power of Big Tech.
“Europe's top court dismisses Google's final appeal against a record €4.1bn antitrust fine for using Android to block rivals.”
At the heart of the case were three allegations of illegal conduct by Google. Regulators said the company forced Android handset and tablet manufacturers to pre-install the Google Search app and its Chrome browser as a condition of offering access to the Play app store. It also made payments to large manufacturers and mobile network operators to exclusively pre-install Google Search, and prevented manufacturers from selling smart devices powered by alternative “forked” versions of Android by threatening to withhold permission to pre-install its apps.
The court acknowledged that Google’s version of Android does not prevent device owners from downloading alternative browsers or using other search engines. But the judges upheld the Commission’s view that the conditions imposed on manufacturers were anticompetitive.
A Google spokesperson said the judgement “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.”
Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichai wrote at the time of the original fine that the decision “rejects the business model that supports Android, which has created more choice for everyone, not less.”
This is not the only antitrust battle Google has fought in Europe. In September 2024 the Commission fined the company €2.4bn (£2bn) for abusing the dominance of its shopping‑comparison service. A year later, in September 2025, it imposed a €2.95bn (£2.5bn) penalty after finding that Google had favoured its own products for online ad display to the detriment of rivals.
The €4.1bn fine is not the largest ever imposed on Google, however. In October 2024 a Russian court charged the firm two undecillion roubles – a sum larger than the world’s total GDP – for restricting Russian state media channels on YouTube.
Despite the defeat, Google has scored a rare legal win in another EU case: a €1.49bn fine was scrapped earlier this year. But for now, the Android penalty stands as a landmark in the EU’s drive to rein in the market power of the world’s biggest technology companies.