Google fined $5 billion for abusing hold on Android

The European Union antitrust officials have slapped Google with a $5.1 billion fine for abusing its power in the smartphone market.

EU officials said Google, which makes the Android mobile operating system used in smartphones, breached antitrust laws by striking deals with handset manufacturers such as HTC, Huawei and Samsung.

“Google has used Android as a vehicle to cement the

dominance of its search engine,” said Europe’s antitrust chief. “These practices have denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete on merits. They have denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules.”

European authorities gave Google 90 days to end its practices, or face penalties of up to 5 percent of the worldwide average daily revenues of its parent company, Alphabet. Google quickly said it would appeal the decision, and the case is likely to drag on for years.

Google has long projected Android as an open-source platform that hardware manufacturers can use and adapt based on their needs. But the European Commission said Android came with strings attached.

The commission said that to gain access to the latest versions of the operating system, handset makers had to agree to make Google Search and Chrome the default services on Android devices, limiting the ability to compete of rivals such as the search engine DuckDuckGo or the browser Firefox.