Europe fines Google $5 billion for abusing its Android dominance

[shockedcanadian]

I wonder if CNN is still worried about the U.S applying tariffs to EU automobiles?

It's global competition. Protect your industries or other countries will go at them at will.

Europe fines Google $5 billion for abusing its Android dominance

Europe has hit Google with a record $5 billion fine.

The company was ordered by the European Commission on Wednesday to pay €4.34 billion ($5 billion) for unfairly pushing its apps on smartphone users and thwarting competitors.


"Google has used Android as a vehicle to cement the dominance of its search engine," Margrethe Vestager, Europe's top antitrust official, said in a statement.

"They have denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition in the important mobile sphere," she added.

The Commission said that Google (GOOGL) broke the law by requiring manufacturers to install its Google Search and Chrome apps as a condition for licensing Google's app store.

It said that Google paid some large smartphone makers and network operators to install apps on phones before they were sold. It also prevented manufacturers from selling devices running on alternative versions of its Android operating system.

 

[skye]

I have no problem with Gulag ,oops Google being hit where it really hurts!

They are a bunch of disgusting, left-wing totalitarians, suppressing conservative opinions for far too long!

I'm very happy this happened to them.

 

[fncceo]

This isn't a new thing. Europe put massive fines on Microsoft on more than one occasion for integrating IE Browser with their operating system.

The European business model has always been one of fines and tariffs on the products of competing countries and taxpayer-funded subsidies on their own products. This is now and has always been their game.

One of the the things that fooled Europeans into voting away their sovereignty to join a 'common market' was the notion that taxes and tariffs between EU states would be eliminated in favour of excluding US and Asian products from their markets.