Report: EU preparing to fine Google over Android practices

The European Union is expected to hit Google with another antitrust fine in the coming weeks for using its Android mobile platform to suppress competitors, according to the Financial Times.

The Times, citing people familiar with the process, reported that Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition chief, is preparing to make the announcement within weeks, capping off a two-year investigation into Google’s mobile practices.

If true, the move will come a year after Vestager hit the giant internet platform with a record $2.7 billion antitrust fine for displaying its own comparison shopping service higher than competitors in its search results.

Reuters reported that the announcement is expected to come the week of July 9.

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Regulators are expected to order Google to stop using Android to promote its own apps and subjecting device makers to anticompetitive terms, the outlets reported.

The EU’s competition authorities are also investigating Google’s advertising platform.

Asked for comment, a Google spokeswoman pointed to a 2016 blog post in which the company’s general counsel, Kent Walker, argues that the Android platform is open and fosters innovation.

“Android has unleashed a new generation of innovation and inter-platform competition,” Walker wrote. “By any measure, it is the most open, flexible, and differentiated of the mobile computing platforms.”