LONDON – Internet giant Google was on Wednesday fined US $5 billion (Rs34,270) by the European Union for violating its anti-trust laws. Google wasaccused of freezing out rivals of its Android mobile phone system.
The European Commission’s decision was delayed by a week by US PresidentDonald Trump’s visit to a NATO summit in Brussels last week.
It comes just over a year after the Commission slapped a landmark US $2.8billion penalty on Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc, for favouring itsshopping service over those of competitors.
The Android decision is the most important of a trio of antitrust casesagainst Google. With the company able to make its ads show up in moresmartphone apps than any other tech rival, Google’s app network has quietlybecome a huge growth engine.
Regulators said Google tilted the field in its favour by forcing smartphonemakers to pre-install Google Search together with its Play Store and Chromebrowser, sign agreements not to sell devices on rival Android systems andalso pay smartphone makers to only pre-install Google Search on devices.
Google denied the charges, saying that bundling search with its Google Playallows it to offer the entire package for free, and that smartphone makersand users have a wide choice.
The Android case was triggered by a 2013 complaint by lobbying groupFairSearch whose members at the time included competitors such as Oracle,Nokia and Microsoft.
The EU sanction comes in the midst of a trade conflict between the UnitedStates and the EU, which has hit back against US tariffs on European steeland aluminum by targeting $3.2 billion in American exports with higherduties.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will meet Trump inWashington D.C. on the trade issue next week.