Legal blow: Google loses £4.1B antitrust fine by EU court

Google is reeling after a key legal adviser to the European Union’s highest court recommended upholding a €4.1 billion antitrust fine for abusing the dominance of its Android mobile operating system.

In a strongly worded opinion delivered Thursday, June 19, 2025, Advocate-General Juliane Kokott of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) urged the court to reject Google’s appeal, reinforcing the European Commission’s claim that the tech giant stifled competition and locked in users through restrictive practices.

“The legal arguments put forward by Google are ineffective,” Kokott wrote. “It is not realistic… to compare Google with a hypothetical equally efficient competitor.”

Her opinion, while non-binding, carries significant weight. CJEU judges follow such advice in about 80% of cases.

At the heart of the case is how Google allegedly forced smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome in exchange for access to the Google Play Store.

The European Commission also accused the company of paying manufacturers to make Google Search the default, blocking rivals from offering alternative Android-based operating systems, and leveraging network effects to entrench dominance.

Android powers around 73% of the world’s smartphones, according to Statcounter.

Regulators argue that this dominance gave Google the leverage to shape the mobile ecosystem in its favor—at the expense of rivals and innovation.

The original fine—€4.34 billion—was issued by the European Commission in 2018, marking the largest antitrust penalty in EU history at the time.

It was reduced to €4.1 billion by a lower court in 2022, but Google continued to fight the ruling.

This week’s recommendation puts Google on the back foot as the final judgment by the CJEU judges looms in the coming months.

In a swift response, Google expressed concern over the implications of the adviser’s stance. “Android has created more choice for everyone,” a Google spokesperson said.

“We are disappointed with the Opinion which, if followed by the Court, would discourage investment in open platforms and harm users, partners, and developers.”

If the court upholds the fine, it would cement the Commission’s landmark case against Google, strengthen EU enforcement power in tech regulation, and set a powerful precedent for global antitrust watchdogs.

It also arrives as regulators around the world intensify scrutiny of Big Tech.

Just this year, South Korea fined Google $177 million for similar dominance tactics, U.S. states filed fresh antitrust claims against Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and Google deepened ties with Volvo to expand Android Automotive, promising faster updates and wider reach.

While the CJEU’s judges are not bound by Kokott’s opinion, history suggests they are likely to follow it.

A final ruling is expected within the next few months.

Until then, the case remains a litmus test for tech accountability in an era of growing pushback against platform monopolies.

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