Google’s First DMA Fine
The European Commission fined Google 890 million euros, roughly 1.015 billion dollars, for breaking the bloc’s digital rules. Regulators found the company pushed its own services to the top of search results and blocked app developers from telling customers about cheaper deals outside Google Play. It is Google’s first penalty under the Digital Markets Act, and the largest any company has drawn under that law.
Key Takeaways
- The Commission split the penalty into two decisions: 460 million euros for self-preferencing in Google Search, and 430 million euros for restricting app developers on Google Play.
- Regulators found Google gave prominent placement to its own shopping, hotel, transport, and sports results, while comparable third-party services received no such treatment.
- Google has been ordered to end both practices, with continued non-compliance exposing Alphabet to periodic penalties of up to 5 percent of average daily worldwide turnover.
What the Commission Found
The search half of the case turns on placement. Google shows its own services at the top of the results page, or dresses them up with enhanced visuals and filters. Similar services from other companies get neither position nor presentation.
European Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen put it directly.
“We found that Google harms businesses offering similar services, such as shopping or sports, by not granting them the same level of prominence on Google Search,” she said.
The second half covers app developers. Under the Digital Markets Act, anyone distributing an app through Google Play must be free to tell customers about alternative offers and send them there to buy, at no cost. The Commission found Google blocked that.
“We also found that Google has restricted app developers from offering cheaper offers to customers in the Google Play app store,” Virkkunen said.
Regulators also took issue with the fees Google charged when steering did occur, and with how long the company kept charging them. Both went past what the law permits.
What Happens Next
The Commission ordered Google to bring both practices to an end. Failure to do so opens the door to daily penalties calculated against Alphabet’s global turnover, a mechanism designed to make continued non-compliance more expensive than compliance.
The two formal non-compliance decisions come out of an investigation opened in March 2024, one of the first three cases Brussels launched after the law took effect. Apple and Meta reached the penalty stage before Google, at 500 million and 200 million euros respectively, which makes this the third and largest fine issued under the framework. Compliance rather than cash is the stated objective, and the Commission has said it is already reviewing Google’s proposed changes to both search and Play Store terms.
The decision lands in a tense moment for transatlantic trade, with US lawmakers pressing their own government to examine whether the law targets American firms unfairly. Commission officials have rejected the suggestion that political timing shaped the announcement. Meanwhile the enforcement questions keep multiplying: Brussels also wants Google to open search data to rival engines and AI chatbots, a proposal the company has said it will fight. Developers, for their part, have watched a parallel dispute play out where Apple’s fee structure left European app makers paying more than American ones months after a ruling against it.
A Long Record in Brussels
Google has been here before, though under different law. In 2018 the Commission fined the company 4.34 billion euros over Android, finding it had used the operating system’s dominance to require phone makers to preinstall Google Search and Chrome.
A lower court trimmed that figure to 4.125 billion euros in 2022. Europe’s highest court dismissed the final appeal on 2 July 2026, leaving the penalty intact and closing the case after thirteen years.
Similar pressure has spread well beyond Europe. India’s competition authority has faced accusations of copying EU findings in its own case against Apple, while a US court stopped short of breaking Google up but ended its exclusive search deals. Different jurisdictions, similar charge sheet.
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