Google has been
hit with a massive $5 billion fine by the EU this week for Android antitrust violations, with the
European Commission claiming that Google has been taking advantage of Android to impose its own services — Google Search, Chrome, and the Play Store — upon consumers and device makers.
It’s a confusing case, so I’ve taken a few minutes to try to break things down here and answer some of the bigger questions about what’s going on. It might stir memories of Microsoft’s ugly antitrust battle with the US government but
there are some differences between the two. Here’s what’s going on with Google and the EU:
1.
What exactly did Google do wrong here?
In short, the European Commission has ruled that Google has been unfairly using Android (which Google owns and develops) to push Google Search (which makes up most of Google’s business) on users, giving them an unfair and uncompetitive advantage.
Specifically, it calls out three things:
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