Europe's top court has ruled that Google must pay a €4.1bn (£3.5bn) fine for using its Android mobile operating system to stifle competition. The judgement, which dismissed the tech giant's appeal, is the largest penalty the European Commission has ever imposed.
The European Commission originally handed out a €4.3bn (then £3.9bn) fine in 2018, later trimmed to €4.1bn in 2022. The appeal brought by Google has now been dismissed.
“Google must pay €4.1bn after Europe's top court dismissed its appeal over Android antitrust violations.”
A Google spokesperson said the judgement "fails to recognise" the firm'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."
When the fine was first announced, the Commission alleged three illegal practices: requiring manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome to offer access to the Play app store; making payments to large manufacturers and mobile network operators that agreed to exclusively pre-install Google Search; and preventing manufacturers from selling devices powered by alternative "forked" versions of Android by threatening to refuse them permission to pre-install Google's apps.
It was acknowledged that Google's version of Android does not prevent device owners downloading alternative browsers or using other search engines.
Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai blogged 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 first case brought against Google by the European Commission. In September 2024 it ruled Google must pay a €2.4bn (£2bn) fine for abusing its market dominance in shopping comparison. Then in September 2025, it fined the search giant €2.95bn (£2.5bn) for favouring its own products in online advertising.
The fine is not the largest ever imposed on Google, however. In October 2024, a Russian court fined the company two undecillion roubles for restricting Russian state media channels on YouTube – more than the world's total GDP.