The European Union will announce a penalty next month for Google's alleged abuse of its dominant position on Android, with a maximum fine of up to 10% of the global annual turnover of Google's parent company's alphabet, that is, $11 billion.
According to the Financial Times on June 7, European Union competition commissioner Westergh is going to announce this ruling against Google in a few weeks, which will be the most significant regulatory intervention against Google's business model.
According to the report, the European Union will impose a fine on Android monopoly, but the exact size of the fine is not clear. In theory, the EU has the right to impose a fine of up to 10% of the global turnover of Google's parent company's alphabet, that is, $11 billion, on the company, but the final amount will generally be less than this figure.
The Financial Times reported that this decision will mark the escalation of the struggle between the European Commission and Google. These "fights" began eight years ago when the European Commission launched an investigation on Google's comparative shopping service, which was only a small part of online commerce at that time. Although the case eventually fined Google 2.4 billion euros, it did not lead to significant changes in Google's business. This Android system monopoly case touched the most basic business model of Google in the mobile Internet era.
According to the Financial Times, the core of Google's business strategy in the past decade is to use Android operating system as a platform to promote intelligence mobile phone Use Google's search engine and app store to help Google consolidate its position in the mobile search and advertising market.
More than 80% of smartphones in the world use the Android operating system. As more and more users search on mobile devices, it is critical to the group's future revenue.
The European Commission previously believed that Google's behavior consolidated Google's dominant position in search, damaged the competition between other mobile browsers and Chrome, and created obstacles for the development of other operating systems, which may reduce consumer choices and hinder innovation. Although Google has always denied that it has monopolized, the European Commission has not dispelled its doubts, nor has it shown signs of seeking reconciliation in this case.