The EU has opened a new front in its increasingly bitter war with Silicon Valley by hitting Google with a record-breaking monopoly abuse fine.

Margrethe Vestager, the European competition chief, ordered the American internet giant to pay a €4.34bn (£3.9bn) penalty after finding it had illegally bound smartphone manufacturers to deals that forced them to install Google apps.

It is the second multi-billion euro fine Brussels has ordered Google to pay in little more than a year, and provoked outrage in the technology industry.

Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichai warned that the decision “sent a troubling signal” that could lead to the company charging for its Android software.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington-based group that represents major technology companies, attacked the fine as “misguided and shortsighted”.