萬國法律事務所

On July 18th, 2018, the European Commission fined Google the amount of €4.34 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules. This is the highest fine ever imposed for antitrust violations anywhere in the world.

Google was also fined the amount of €2.42 billion last year for abusing its dominance as a search engine by giving illegal advantages to its own comparison shopping services. This time, Commissioner Margrethe Vestager stated, "Our case is about three types of restrictions that Google has imposed on Android device manufacturers and network operators to ensure that traffic on Android devices goes to the Google search engine. In this way, Google has used Android as a vehicle to cement the dominance of its search engine. These practices have denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete on the merits. They have denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition in the important mobile sphere. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules." According to the press release from the European Commission, Google: 1. has required manufacturers to pre-install the Google Search app and browser app (Chrome), as a condition for licensing Google's app store (the Play Store);

According to the press release from the European Commission, Google:

1. has required manufacturers to pre-install the Google Search app and browser app (Chrome), as a condition for licensing Google's app store (the Play Store);
 
2. made payments to certain large manufacturers and mobile network operators on the condition that they exclusively pre-installed the Google Search app on their devices; and
 
3. has prevented manufacturers wishing to pre-install Google apps from selling even a single smart mobile device running on alternative versions of Android that were not approved by Google (so-called "Android forks").

Google has indicated that it will appeal the fine.