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July 18, 2018
5 minutes read

Google faces record $5 Billion fine from the Euopean Union over Android Anti-trust Case

image credit : Flickr/Ken Yeung Tech giant Google is facing what is a record fine issued by the EU…

Tech giant Google is facing what is a record fine issued by the EU over antitrust regulations with a reported €4.34 Billion ($5.06 Billion) imposed on the company over a stated violation of anti-trust laws with the EU accusing Google of abusing the dominance of its Android operating system through the bundling of its search engine and Chrome applications into the OS.

This comes a year after Google was fined an also then record $2.7 Billion fine over alleged manipulation of its search results, A judgement currently under appeal by Google and is being debated in the legal courts.

The European Union first began an investigation into this allegation as long as 39 months ago and is now making this verdict in response to the case which has seen Google being imposed with the largest fine ever by the European Union over anti-trust valuations.

In addition to this, Google is also alleged to have blocked other smartphone makers from creating devices running modded versions of the operating system.

With Google accounting for up to a third of all mobile ads globally and its Android system dominating smartphones worldwide, The unit has long been a major part of Google’s business ecosystem mounting huge revenues for the company which provides a very vast array of mobile services.

Google is arguing against this judgement stating that its users have the freedom of deleting its apps at choice while stating that its open-source Android OS keeps manufacturing costs low while providing users with “unprecedented control of their mobile devices”.

The EU is known for having made several cases against several U.S. tech giants including Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon over issues which include abusing of market dominance having fined all of the stated companies here several huge sums over anti-trust violations and ‘illegal tax advantage’ as noted in the case of Amazon.

This fine could come along with several forced actions on Google which may affect the company’s dominance and operations concerning its widely and majorly used Android OS although it isn’t currently clear what actions are being taken and if it would have any effect on Google’s mobile services.