> Perhaps believable, had it not survived eight years of litigation ending at the ECJ

You're of course making the assumption the ECJ isn't biased towards ruling in favor of the EU in these disputes...

> or had there been some informal "pay up or else" demand attached, neither of which is true.

Isn't there a formal "pay up or else" demand attached? If Google doesn't pay, then what? I would take this a lot more seriously if the EU said "look, these violations are so egregious we simply can't trust you to operate in the EU anymore." No, they're OK with Google apparently not changing much of anything and being allowed to continue operating so long as they pay the fine first.

> No, they're OK with Google apparently not changing much of anything and being allowed to continue operating so long as they pay the fine first.

This is false. They were asked to:

- Stop tying Google Search and Chrome to the Play Store.

- Permit competing Android versions.

- Stop exclusivity incentives for Google Search.

- Provide genuine room for rival search engines and browsers.

This is separate from the fine and they were given 90 days in 2018 to comply with the above.

The fine is not a one-and-done like fines are levied against corporations in the USA, most fines against corporations in the EU can be levied many times if the infringing behaviour is not corrected.

> No, they're OK with Google apparently not changing much of anything and being allowed to continue operating so long as they pay the fine first.

But google did change how they do things thanks to this case thus making everything you wrote some anti-government fiction.