The European Commission has fined Google with a record figure of € 4.34 billion for the violation of antitrust rules related to the EU.
Since 2011, the Commission explains, Google imposes significant restrictions on Android device manufacturers and network operators to consolidate their dominant position in the online search industry. Google will now have to correct its behavior within 90 days, otherwise – the previous figure – will add a sum, equal to 5% of the average daily turnover of Alphabet (parent company of Google).
In order to understand each other better, according to the Commission, Google is using Android to promote its services and increase revenues from advertising in an improper and anti-competitive manner. There are 3 types of restrictions that Google is imposing:
- Google forces manufacturers to install the Google Search Widget and use Google as their default search engine. Such practices deny competitors the opportunity to innovate and compete on their own merits and deny consumers the benefits of effective competition.
- Google obliges manufacturers to pre-install the Chome browser as a fundamental condition for obtaining the Play Store license (and we all know that an Android without a Play Store is very useless and decidedly limited).
- Google prevents device manufacturers with a modified version of Android (such as Kindle Fire) from installing even one Google application without approval from the same company.
Google has already announced that it will appeal to this fine and that through Android the company offers a complete operating system and a wider choice for everyone, exactly the opposite of what is imputed to him.
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