EU court confirms 4.13 billion euro Google fine

2026-07-02

Fine amount confirmed

The Court of Justice of the European Union, the EU's top court, on Tuesday upheld the European Commission's decision to impose a competition law fine on Google, a unit of U.S. Alphabet. That fixed the fine at 4.13 billion euros ($7.6 billion).

Tailwind for competition policy enforcement

This is the largest fine ever imposed on a U.S. tech company under EU competition law. The European Commission decided to levy the fine in 2018, and Google had challenged it as unjust. The ruling bolsters the Commission's enforcement of competition policy and could lead to tighter regulation of U.S. tech companies going forward.

Preinstalled search software at issue

In 2018, the Commission argued that Google had acted illegally by requiring smartphone makers to preinstall its search and browsing software as a condition for including the Google Play app store. It found that the practice hindered the use of rival operating systems competing with Android and unfairly strengthened Google's dominant position in search engines and related areas.

Appeal also rejected

Google objected and filed a challenge with the EU court's General Court. The General Court broadly upheld the Commission's decision in 2022, but Google appealed. In addition to competition law, the EU is investigating Google under the Digital Markets Act, or DMA, which is designed to prevent giant platform operators from monopolizing markets in advance.

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