By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Alphabet unit Google will appeal its record 4.1-billion-euro ($4.10 billion) EU antitrust fine at Europe’s top court after a lower tribunal threw out its challenge last month, the U.S. tech giant said on Thursday.
The Luxembourg-based General Court broadly backed the European Commission’s 2018 decision but pruned the fine to 4.125 billion euros from 4.34 billion euros.
Judges agreed with the European Union competition watchdog that Google had imposed unlawful restrictions on manufacturers of Android mobile devices and mobile network operators in order to consolidate the dominant position of its search engine.
“We are preparing our appeal. The deadline for the court is Dec. 1,” a Google spokesperson said.
The company can only appeal on matters of law to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union.
The bloc recently boosted its antitrust power with new landmark tech rules curbing online gatekeepers, companies which control access to their platforms and data there, with which the companies will have to comply in the first quarter of 2024.
($1 = 0.9990 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
