Google on the brink of the largest fine in Brussels history

BrusselsEuropean justice paves the way for the largest fine in history imposed by the European Commission against Google. In a ruling issued this Thursday, Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Juliane Kokott, advocates dismissing the US technology company's appeal against the €4.241 billion fine imposed by the EU executive in 2018 and already validated by the Court of First Instance (CJEU). Thus, while awaiting the final ruling from the CJEU, both Brussels and the European courts accuse Google of abusing its dominant position in the EU market.

The European Commission began investigating Google for this case in 2015, and it wasn't until 2018 that it concluded that it forced smartphone manufacturers to pre-install its applications—such as Google Search or Google Chrome—to further strengthen its dominant position and prevent the entry of rivals into the sector. Therefore, the EU executive imposed the fine and ruled that the clause was "abusive." According to Brussels, around 80% of EU mobile phones and tablets ran on Android at the time.

The Advocate General thus sides with the European Commission and the CJEU and asserts that the evidence and legal arguments presented by Google against the sanction are "ineffective." Therefore, she indicated that the ruling of the Luxembourg Court of First Instance "cannot be challenged."

However, it should be remembered that the Advocate General's ruling is not binding, although it determines the final judgment in 80% of cases. In turn, Google responded in a statement stating that it is "disappointed" by the Advocate General's opinion and asserted that if the CJEU ultimately rules the same, it would "discourage investment" and "harm users, partners, and developers of Android apps." Similarly, far from rectifying, the company has been failing to protect thousands of successful businesses in Europe and around the world.