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EU: Google illegally used Android to dominate search, must pay $5B fine
So now integrating your flagship product into your most valuable product is...illegal? Negotiating contracts in favor of your product over a competitor is illegal? This is monopoly corruption?
Must be easy balancing checkbooks when you institutionalize theft.
Google Search is the heart and soul of the company itself. In fact, this was its first product: a search engine. It's crazy for me to realize that some kids reading this probably don't know that Amazon started as an online bookseller, and Google started as a search engine. That was it.Ars Technica said:The European Commission today fined Google $5.05 billion (€4.34 billion) for violating EU antitrust rules, saying that "Google has imposed illegal restrictions on Android device manufacturers and mobile network operators to cement its dominant position in general Internet search."
The commission said that Google is violating antitrust law by requiring phone manufacturers to pre-install the Google search app and Chrome browser "as a condition for licensing Google's app store (the Play Store)."
Google also violated EU antitrust rules by "ma[king] payments to certain large manufacturers and mobile network operators on condition that they exclusively pre-installed the Google Search app on their devices," the commission said.
Thirdly, Google allegedly ran afoul of EU rules by deterring manufacturers from using Android forks. Google "has prevented manufacturers wishing to pre-install Google apps from selling even a single smart mobile device running on alternative versions of Android that were not approved by Google," the commission said.
So now integrating your flagship product into your most valuable product is...illegal? Negotiating contracts in favor of your product over a competitor is illegal? This is monopoly corruption?
Must be easy balancing checkbooks when you institutionalize theft.