Google slapped with $5bn fine over Android

Google has been fined a record $5bn over Android. A BBC News report says the European Commission said the firm had used the mobile operating system to illegally ‘cement its dominant position’ in search. The firm's parent Alphabet has been given 90 days to change its business practices or face further penalties of up to 5% of its average global daily turnover. It has said it plans to appeal. However, notes the report, it could easily afford the fine if required – its cash reserves totalled nearly $103bn at the end of March. Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said consumers needed choice. And she suggested the ruling could lead manufacturers to sell smart devices using different versions of the Android operating system to Google’s, such as Amazon’s Fire OS, which she said they had been prevented from doing. ‘This will change the market place,’ she said. Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichai has blogged in response. ‘Rapid innovation, wide choice, and falling prices are classic hallmarks of robust competition and Android has enabled all of them,’ he wrote. ‘Today’s decision rejects the business model that supports Android, which has created more choice for everyone, not less.’ The report notes that Vestager previously fined Google $2.8bn over a separate probe into its shopping comparison service – a ruling the tech firm is in the process of appealing against. In addition, her team has a third investigation under way into Google’s advert-placing business AdSense.