Google Fined £3.5BN Over Blocking Android Rivals

Elizabeth Greenberg

03 July 2026, 10.19am

The original fine dates back to 2018.

The European Commission has fined Google a whopping €4.1bn (£3.5bn) after it found the tech giant was blocking mobile rivals with its Android operating system.

The original ruling dates back to 2018, but an appeal by Google meant to final fine was not officialy issued until now after the appeal was dismissed.

Back in 2018, Google was found to be acting illegally by the European Commission due to three practices.

First, it required Android device manufacturers to pre-install both the Google Search and Chrome apps as a condition of having access to the Play Store.

It also made large payments to manufacturers and mobile network operators to pre-install the Google Search app exclusively on their devices.

The tech giant also allegedly prohibited manufacturers from selling smart devices that have alternative versions of Androids, threatning to stop them from pre-installing its apps.

While the EU body acknowledged that Android does not stop users from downloading alternatives to Google Search and Chrome, the fine went ahead.

The original ruling was chastised by Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, who said that the decision “rejects the business model that supports Android, which has create more choice for everyone, not less.”

While Google has faced more recent fines from the EU, this is the largest to date from the European Commission.

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A Google spokesperson said that the current fine does not recognised Alphabet’s “significant investment to ensure Android remains open, interoperable, and free.”

However, the spokesperson added: “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.”