Google has been levied a massive $5 billion fine by the EU anti-trust regulators over charges of misusing the dominance of the Android platform to further its own business interests. The Mountain View company also stands accused of forcing device manufacturers and network operators to toe its own line of doing business, which includes making the Google search engine and Chrome browser as the default setting on every Android handset.
Google hasn’t yet responded to the development but is almost sure to appeal against the ruling. The company already is fighting against a similar judgment made last year from the EU that had charged it a fine worth $2.7 billion. It had then been accused of manipulating the search results in a way to promote its own devices and services over those of its competitors. A final ruling on the case is still pending and could take several years before it draws to a close.
However, as things have turned out, Google has a far bigger problem in its hands now with the $5 billion fine it has just been levied. No wonder, it has also become the largest amount for any company to have ever been charged so far, eclipsing the previous high that too had Google at the receiving end. That said, several other big-name companies too have faced similar situations in the EU before. Those include the likes of Facebook, Intel, Microsoft and so on though the fine amount has never been this high.
However, Google has been under the scanner of the anti-trust authorities in the EU for some time now after allegations of the company misusing the dominance of its Android platform to promote its own apps and other software. Towards this, a complaint had also been filed by FairSearch against Google back in 2013. FairSearch happens to be a consortium of companies namely Oracle, Microsoft, and Nokia.
Google has been given a time of 90 days to mend its ways but has been warned of more severe consequences if it fails to do so. That includes additional fines of 5 percent of Alphabet’s annual worldwide turnover. Google has decided to appeal the decision. Further, they added, EU decision might affect the freemium model of Android.
