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Europe ‘invites’ Donald Trump anger as EU fines Google $1 billion under Digital Markets Act, here’s ‘threat’ US president issued months ago
Google-parent Alphabet has been fined a total of €890 million ($1 billion) for flouting European Union rules, designed to promote competition in digital services. Announcing the fine, European Commission (EC) said that Google had failed to comply with the Digital Markets Act by promoting its own services, including shopping and transport, on Google Search over those of competitors and by restricting the way app developers sell to customers. The European Commission is the European Union’s executive branch and highest antitrust enforcer.EC has fined the company €460 million ($524.7 million) and €430 million ($490 million) respectively, for the two separate alleged violations. “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,” Henna Virkkunen, the European commissioner in charge of tech sovereignty said in a statement.In its statement, EC said that it was acting in the interest of consumers after running an antitrust investigation of Google. “The best products should succeed because they’re better, not because they’re owned by the company running the search engine. And European consumers have a right to be told by app developers where to sign up to the best offers, even when the app store owner does not get a cut,” said Teresa Ribera, the commission’s Executive Vice President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition.
Donald Trump threat after EU fines against Google and Apple
The EU punishment comes at a tense moment for EU–US trade relations, with US President Donald Trump having repeatedly criticized the bloc’s efforts to rein in Silicon Valley giants. When Google was last fined by the EU in September 2025, the US President threatened fresh trade tariffs against the European Union. President Donald Trump had threatened to launch a trade investigation to “nullify” what he said were discriminatory fines being levied by Europe against American companies such as Google and Apple.“We cannot let this happen to brilliant and unprecedented American Ingenuity and, if it does, I will be forced to start a Section 301 proceeding to nullify the unfair penalties being charged to these Taxpaying American Companies,” Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social in September.
European Commission release announcing $1 billion fine
In a release European Commission said, “Today, the European Commission took two decisions finding non-compliance by Google with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) for self-preferencing its own services on Google Search, and for putting in place restrictions on businesses to direct consumers to alternative, often cheaper, purchase channels on Google Play (steering). In this regard, the Commission issued Google a fine of €460 million and a fine of €430 million respectively.” Under the DMA, gatekeepers must not treat their own services more favourably in ranking than third-party services. They have to apply transparent, fair and non-discriminatory conditions to such ranking.The Commission found that Google gives preferential treatment to its own services, including shopping, hotels, transport and sports results, over those of third parties in Google Search, thereby breaching its obligations under the DMA.Google displays its own services more prominently in search results, including at the top of the search results page or by using enhanced visuals and filters, while similar third-party services do not have the same prominence.Google’s anti-steeringUnder the DMA, app developers that distribute their apps via Google Play should be able to inform customers – free of charge – of alternative, often cheaper, offers, and to direct them to those offers to make purchases, for example on websites or alternative app stores.The Commission found that Google failed to comply with that obligation. In particular, Google prevents app developers from freely communicating and promoting offers and concluding contracts with users in distribution channels of their choice, including third-party app stores.While Google can receive a fee for facilitating the initial acquisition of a new customer by an app developer via Google Play, the level of the steering-related fees charged by Google and the length of the charging period for these fees went beyond what is considered compliant with the DMA.As part of today’s two decisions, the Commission has ordered Google to bring the non-compliance to an end. In particular, Google must implement measures to:* Treat third-party services that feature on Google’s search results in a fair and non-discriminatory manner by reference to its own services, and allow app developers distributing their apps via Google Play Store, both technically and contractually, to freely communicate, promote offers and conclude contracts with users not only within but also outside the Google Play app store.* The Commission notes that, after a constructive dialogue, Google has proposed and started testing changes to how it presents its own services on Google Search for free services such as shopping, hotels and flights. The Commission will monitor the implementation of these solutions which constitute substantial progress towards compliance. The Commission also notes that Google has proposed and started testing changes to how it presents shopping ads and content related services, such as sports. The Commission is currently assessing these changes and will continue its dialogue with Google in light of today’s decision. The Commission also takes note of Google’s proposals on how it plans to apply the principles of the decision to AI Overviews and AI Mode, on which dialogue will continue in light of today’s decision.* The Commission also notes that Google has rolled out changes related to Google’s steering terms. These constitute good progress towards compliance and will also be assessed in light of the cease and desist order of today’s decision.The fines imposed today on Google take into account the gravity and duration of the non-compliance.
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