Europe has fined Google $5 billion (€4.34 billion)

The €4.34 billion ($5 billion) penalty announced Wednesday by the European Commission is the latest salvo in an extended battle between Google and regulators in Brussels, who have subjected the tech company to three antitrust investigations. The Commission said the firm had used the mobile operating system to illegally "cement its dominant position" in search. The Commission has also ordered Google to give manufacturers more freedom when deciding which apps to install on Android smartphones. 

Google will have to stop preloading Android apps on phones, but Gmail, YouTube, Maps and Chrome have become so essential that customers are bound to seek them out.

At a press conference in Brussels, 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.

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