Google has lost its appeal against a €4.1 billion antitrust fine, one of the largest competition penalties in Europe after a court confirmed that the company broke competition regulations through its Android operations.
The decision, which brings an eight-year case to an end, was made by the Court of Justice of the European Union on July 2, 2026.
It upheld earlier findings that Google used its Android mobile operating system to strengthen its authority in search and app services.
The case dates back to 2018 when the European Commission imposed a €4.34 billion penalty. Regulators said Google required smartphone makers to pre-install Google Search, Chrome, and the Play Store on Android devices. They also said the company restricted the use of competing versions of Android.
In 2022, the General Court reduced the fine slightly to €4.125 billion after it struck out parts of the original decision linked to revenue-sharing conditions. However, the core findings against Google stayed in place.
The latest decision confirmed those findings in full as Judges said the behaviour amounted to a “single and continuous infringement.” They also accepted the regulator’s position on how pre-installed apps affect competition.
“The appeal brought by Google and its parent company Alphabet against the judgment of the General Court is dismissed, thereby confirming the penalty imposed for Google Search’s abuse of a dominant position in the context of the Android operating system,”
The court further addressed how default placement impacts user behaviour, agreeing that pre-installation creates a “status quo bias,” which limits choice for users and makes it harder for rival services to compete.
Again, the court ruled that authorities did not need to prove what the market would have looked like without Google’s conduct in order to establish abuse.
A Google spokesperson said the company disagreed with the decision and pointed to changes already made since the original decision.
“In any event, we adapted our agreements to comply with the initial decision back in 2018 and we remain focused on continued innovation and openness for our users, partners and developers”,
The case adds to a pattern of enforcement against Google in the EU, where total fines now approach €11 billion across several competition cases. Those include earlier rulings on search shopping services and advertising practices.
Regulators are also working under the Digital Markets Act, which gives them faster powers to intervene in platform behaviour. Google already faces a separate case under that law over search results and app store rules.
