Google has accused EU antitrust watchdogs of blundering their way through a probe that culminated in a record €4.3-billion (R84-billion) fine for allegedly abusing the market power of its Android mobile ecosystem.

At an appeals hearing at the EU’s court of justice on Tuesday, lawyers for Google slammed the European Commission for making “grave errors”, failing to take into account that Android’s success stemmed from successful innovation rather than brute force.

The commission “punished Google for its superior merits, attractiveness and innovation”, Google lawyer Alfonso Lamadrid told judges at the Luxembourg-based court.

The Android fine is among a slew of EU penalties targeting Big Tech that sparked a backlash from Silicon Valley executives seeking to curry favour with US President Donald Trump, who last week called the the EU’s fines “a form of taxation”. A final ruling in the Android case is expected in the coming months, following a non-binding opinion from an adviser to the tribunal.

The EU court’s decision could prove pivotal for the future of Google Android’s business model — which has provided free software in exchange for conditions imposed on mobile phone manufacturers.

Such contracts provoked the ire of the commission in 2018, when the watchdog accused Google of three separate types of illegal behaviour that helped cement the dominance of its search engine, accompanying the order with the record fine.

First, it said Google was illegally forcing handset makers to pre-install the Google Search app and the Chrome browser as a condition for licensing its Play Store — the marketplace for Android apps.

Upheld

Second, the EU said Google made payments to some large manufacturers and operators on condition that they exclusively pre-installed the Google Search app.

Lastly, the EU said the Mountain View, California-based company prevented manufacturers wishing to pre-install apps from running alternative versions of Android not approved by Google.

In September 2022, judges at the bloc’s lower-tier court upheld the vast majority of the commission’s arguments, but cut the penalty to €4.1-billion after finding that regulators hadn’t provided enough evidence for specific abuses.

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EU lawyers vehemently defended their decision on Tuesday, accusing Google of implementing a “carrots and sticks strategy” in their dealings with phone manufacturers.

Google’s Android “has almost total control over the ecosystem”, Fernando Castillo de la Torre, a lawyer for the EU regulator said, adding that “the degree of competition in that ecosystem depends critically” on the company’s own actions. — Samuel Stolton, (c) 2025 Bloomberg LP

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