According to the European Commission, Google used a number of underhand tactics with Android, which “denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete…[and] denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition in this important sphere.”
The tactics used included paying manufacturers and mobile operators large sums to exclusively pre-install Google search applications on their devices, as well as requiring manufacturers to pre-install Google Chrome and Google Search in order to access the Google Play stores. Manufacturers were also strictly prohibited from selling devices which used “unapproved” versions of the Android operating system.
Google has 90 days to comply with the ruling or risk facing additional fines, which total 5 percent of its daily revenue. The company said it plans to appeal the ruling.
“Rapid innovation, wide choice, and falling prices are classic hallmarks of robust competition and Android has enabled all of them,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a statement Wednesday. “Today’s decision rejects the business model that supports Android, which has created more choice for everyone, not less.”
The search engine giant is also in the process of appealing another European Union antitrust fine totaling $2.7 billion from last year. In that case, investigators accused the company of using its search engine to give advantages to its shopping comparison service. Facebook and Apple have also recently faced significant fines by the EU.
The newest fine is yet another example of the EU cracking down on Big Tech, especially in wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. While the fines levied against Google, as well as Facebook and Apple, are certainly eye-catching, the main weapon in the EU’s arsenal is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law, which came into effect in May, and was responsible for the slew of emails in your inbox about privacy changes.
Under the GDPR, EU citizens will be able to demand tech companies reveal or delete information they hold on them. The law also unifies the separate jurisdictions within the EU, and gives regulators the power to fine companies up to 4 percent of their global turnover.
Major tech companies have been at pains to comply with the GDPR — in May, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the European parliament that he supported the rules and had instituted similar privacy controls for Facebook users world wide. But a month beforehand, Facebook also moved responsibility for all of its 1.5 billion non-U.S. or Canadian accounts from the GDPR’s jurisdiction in Ireland back to California, where the GDPR has no effect.
Original Article
Source: thinkprogress.org
Author: Luke Barnes
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