Author: Luis Blanquez
Google just paid $700 million in the US to close the domestic front of a war it has already lost twice. This month, the court gave final approval to the settlement resolving the antitrust claims brought by a bipartisan coalition of states, together with a nationwide class of Android users. Judge James Donato of the Northern District of California signaled his approval at an April 2026 hearing, and payments to eligible consumers follow from there.
The number is large, but the shadow of the precedent behind it is even larger. Weeks earlier, the European Court of Justice put the final seal on a €4.1 billion fine for the same company, over the same operating system, and for conduct similar to what the states alleged here. Two legal systems, two very different jurisdictional machines, one defendant—and a question that should interest every company with a platform and a dominant position: which machine really changes a monopoly’s behavior?