Google set for another record-breaking EU fine, this time over Android

GoogleEU antitrust regulators are reportedly looking to present Google with another massive fine, following the record-breaking €2.42bn (£2.14bn) the company was fined by the EU last month for abuse of power in promoting its own shopping service ahead of others.

The latest potential fine, according to Reuters, is over its Android mobile operating system, and EU’s competition authority has setup a panel of experts to give a second opinion on the case. The latest fine is expected to break the record set last month and top the €2.42bn Google was forced to hand over.

Last year, the EU changed Google with using its Android operating system to shut out rivals following a complaint from various firms. The charge sheet said that Google’s anti-competitive practices started in January 2017 and that the Commission would likely tell the company to stop.

“A decision would come none too soon. Google is hurting Android users, including by surreptitiously commandeering ever-increasing amounts of personal data,” Thomas Vinje, the lawyer for one of the groups that brought the case forward FairSearch, told Reuters.

The company has also been accused of paying smartphone makers and mobile network operators to only install Google Search on their devices.