December 2018

The Commission’s decision to fine Google for unfair practice was based on a misunderstanding of the Android ecosystem and a mistaken definition of the relevant market. This allowed Google’s activities to be wrongly cast as those of a monopoly abusing its position.

Furthermore, such action as the Commission has taken is unlikely to be effective in achieving the Commissions stated goals.

This paper examines the background to the case and goes through the flaws in the Commissions approach, and the arguments used to justify the fines imposed on Google.