European Commission fines Google $5.04 billion for forcing its apps on Android manufacturers

The European Commission has fined Google €4.34 billion ($5.04 billion) for breaching EU antitrust rules. It claims that since 2011, Google has imposed illegal restrictions on Android device manufacturers and mobile networks to cement its dominant position in general internet search. The commission says that Google needs to put an end to the conduct within the next 90 days or face penalty payments of up to 5% of the average daily worldwide turnover of Alphabet. It says that Google imposed conditions that manufacturers have to pre-install the Google Search app and browser app (Chrome) as a condition for licensing Google's PlayStore. Google said to have made payments to certain manufacturers and mobile network operators on condition that they exclusively use the Google Search app on their devices. Google said to have prevented manufacturers wishing to pre-install Google apps from selling smartphones other than Android. EU says that Google gets the vast majority of its revenues via its flagship product, the Google search engine. Anticipating the change from desktop PCs to mobile internet, Google developed a strategy to make sure that users would continue to use Google Search also on their mobile devices. The Commission decision concerns three specific types of contractual restrictions that Google has imposed ...