BRUSSELS — The European Union’s antitrust watchdog is expected to find Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL, -0.01% GOOG, -0.10% Google illegally abused the dominance of its Android operating system for mobile phones, issuing a multibillion-euro fine and ordering changes to the company’s Android-related business practices, people familiar with the matter said.
The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, is expected to find that the California-based company’s actions allegedly thwarted potential competitors to safeguard its mobile-advertising business.
The fine could surpass the €2.4 billion ($2.82 billion) that the EU levied against Google last year for abusing the dominance of its search engine to skew search results in favor of its own comparison-shopping service. But the penalty isn’t likely to reach into the double-digit billions range, these people said. A third formal probe into Google’s AdSense for Search advertising service is still under way.
The exact remedial actions Brussels will require weren’t clear. The EU could order the company to change contracts Google signs with companies that make Android phones.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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