A control device for an internal combustion engine including a variable compression ratio mechanism for changing a compression ratio by using an electric actuator prohibits control of changing the compression ratio to a higher compression ratio when a failure occurs in the variable compression ratio mechanism. Thereby, upon failure occurrence, the compression ratio of the variable compression ratio mechanism at the time of the failure occurrence is maintained or reduced to less than this compression ratio so as to protect the electric actuator and prevent abrupt changes in torque.