The European competition watchdog has fined Google of a record $5 billion (€4.3 billion) for abusing the dominance of its mobile operating system Android and forcing the 3 types of illegal restrictions on the use of Android, the governing body said Wednesday.
The 3 types of practices are said to be “illegal obstruction of development and distribution of competing Android operating systems,” Illegal tying of Google’s search and browser apps, and illegal payments conditional on exclusive pre-installation of Google Search”.
Google is also accused of forcing smartphone makers like Samsung and Huawei to preinstall its own services, such as Google Search and Google Maps, on Android. In this way, it has cemented the dominance of its search engine. Denying rivals a chance to innovate and compete on the merits. It’s illegal under EU antitrust rules.
Moreover, Google was given 90 days to stop what the EU said were “illegal practices” on contracts with handset manufacturers that push Google services in front of users. This means now Google should stop forcing the manufacturers to preinstall Google search and Google Chrome if they want to offer the Google Play Store on handsets.
Google in its response said it will challenge the ruling at the EU courts. An appeal wouldn’t change its need to comply with the EU order.
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