Fine for Alphabet⚖️

Google $GOOGL has definitively lost its fight against a €4.1 billion fine from the European Commission – the EU's highest court (Court of Justice) confirmed that the company abused its dominant position with Android by conditioning phone manufacturers' pre-installation of Google Search, Chrome, and the Play Store, and preventing them from using competing systems. The fine was originally €4.34 billion from 2018, a lower court reduced it to €4.1 billion in 2022, and now it is final.

Over the past ten years, Google has accumulated fines of almost €11 billion in Europe. The figure alone will not faze Alphabet – it represents less than 3% of the company's annual profit. The real risk lies elsewhere: the loss opens the door to further lawsuits for damages from companies claiming that Google's anti-competitive behavior caused them losses. This is exactly what happened after the loss in the shopping comparison case – just this week, a Swedish court ordered Google to pay over $1.5 billion to the company PriceRunner (now owned by Klarna).

Moreover, more problems are looming – investigations into favoring its own services in search results and App Store practices, both under the new EU Digital Markets Act. This judgment gives Europe an impetus to intensify pressure on big tech companies in general.

What do you think about the position of American tech giants in Europe?