EU condemns Google to a record $ 5 billion on a mobile system

BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union on Wednesday imposed a $ 5 billion record fine on Google for using the market dominance of its mobile operating system Android to force manufacturers to install Google apps.

The EU said Google was breaking the rules by requiring mobile phone producers that they preinstall Google search and navigation apps if they wanted to use the app store's Google. Google has also paid major producers to preinstall exclusively the Google Search app.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has said that "companies must compete on their merits", according to rules favoring consumers and open markets. ] Google immediately responded that he would appeal. "Android has created more choices for everyone, not less," said spokesman Al Verney.

The EU fine, which caps a three-year investigation, is the largest ever imposed on a company for anti-competitive behavior. 19659004] Vestager said that once the financial size of the company taken into account, the fine of 4.34 billion euros is not disproportionate. Google's parent company, Alphabet, made a profit of $ 9.4 billion in the first three months of the year and reportedly accumulated more than $ 100 billion in cash

. billion) for having favored his shopping lists in the search results.

But the insistence of the EU that Google change its practices could have an impact greater than the fine itself.

"The important thing is not to be distracted by the size of the fine, which is important is that Google must change its abusive behavior," Rich Stables, CEO of the search engine competitor Kelkoo, told the Associated Press.

Android is an open-source operating system that Google lets mobile phone manufacturers use for free. As a result, it is the most widely used system, even beating Apple's iOS. The EU says Google has market share of more than 90% in most European countries.

The EU wants to make sure that phone manufacturers are free to pre-install applications of their choice and allow competition in services such as Internet search. He also wants them to be able to more easily use the altered versions – or "fork" – of Android.

Google argues that this could adversely affect its ability to provide Android for free because its primary way of earning money from the operating system is through advertising and selling of content and content. 39; applications. Its main competitor in mobile systems, Apple, derives most of its money from the sale of devices.

Giving phone makers more freedom to use modified versions of Android could also harm Google. Samsung, a very popular Android device maker thanks to its Galaxy lineup, could come off and take a big part of the Android ecosystem with it.

If Google's commercial activities are too harshly constrained, the argument follows, it might no longer be able to Android: Daniel Castro, vice president of the Foundation for Information Technology and Innovation, a Washington-based think tank, said this decision "is a blow to innovative and open-source business models."

The clash between the EU and Google is reminiscent of his fight against Microsoft. In this case, the EU said that Microsoft has used the market dominance of its Windows operating system to get consumers to use Microsoft's browser, Internet Explorer. Microsoft was also fined and was eventually forced to offer users a more explicit choice of browsers.

As technology spreads into modern life, European regulators have set the tone for the industry. European governments tend to want to control more companies than the US, which has given greater freedom to technology companies like Google.

The difference in approach was highlighted after a scandal of misuse of personal data campaigns, including the 2016 presidential vote in US regulators the United States had already been working on a more regulatory Strict privacy and may have imposed new rules that affect the way some companies operate outside the region too.

A delicate period for transatlantic relations, US President Donald Trump criticizing the EU as an "enemy" last week. The United States imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from the EU this year and the EU responded by imposing tariffs on US products. The United States also plans to impose taxes on imports of European cars

The United States also complain that the EU has mainly targeted US companies – including Apple and Amazon – to have violates the competition or tax rules.

protect consumers and competition to ensure that consumers get the best of fair competition, "said Vestager." We will continue to do so, regardless of the political context. "

____ [19659003] Ryan Nakashima at Menlo Park, California, contributed to this report.