July 2 — European regulators have launched a series of antitrust, privacy, and online safety investigations into major technology companies in recent years
Below are some of the major probes:
On Thursday, Europe’s top court dismissed Google’s challenge against a €4.1 billion (RM19.12 billion) European Union (EU) antitrust fine over Android, largely upholding regulators’ findings that the company used its mobile operating system to shut out rivals
The European Commission (EC) originally imposed a €4.3 billion (RM20.06 billion) penalty in 2018, which a lower tribunal reduced in 2022. Google has accumulated almost €11 billion (RM51.31 billion) in EU antitrust fines over the past decade
In December, it opened an antitrust investigation into whether Google is breaching competition rules by using publishers’ online content and YouTube material for artificial intelligence purposes
Google won its challenge in September 2024 against a €1.49 billion (RM6.95 billion) fine linked to online search advertising but lost a separate appeal against a €2.42 billion (RM11.29 billion) fine over its comparison shopping service
In June, the United Kingdom’s (UK) Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ordered Google to increase transparency around search rankings and allow publishers to opt out of having their content used for AI features
Amazon.com
In February, Italy’s privacy watchdog ordered an Amazon.com unit to stop using personal data from more than 1,800 warehouse workers near Rome
In the same month, Germany’s cartel office barred Amazon from imposing price caps on retailers selling through its German marketplace and sought the recovery of profits it said were generated through anti-competitive conduct
In November, the EU General Court rejected Amazon’s bid to overturn its designation as a platform subject to stricter obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA)
Apple
Italy’s competition authority fined Apple and two subsidiaries €98.6 million (RM459.9 billion) in December over alleged abuse of a dominant position in the mobile apps market
The European Commission fined Apple €500 million (RM2.33 billion) in April 2025 under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), while Germany’s Federal Court of Justice upheld a regulatory designation subjecting the company to tighter competition controls
The UK’s CMA designated Apple and Google as companies with “strategic market status” in October 2025, granting them the power to impose conduct requirements
In September 2024, Europe’s top court upheld an order requiring Apple to pay €13 billion (RM60.64 billion) in back taxes to Ireland
Apple also agreed in July 2024 to open its tap-and-go mobile payments technology to rivals to settle an EU antitrust probe. Earlier that year, Brussels fined the company €1.84 billion (RM8.58 billion) over restrictions affecting music-streaming competitors
Meta Platforms
In April, EU regulators said that Facebook and Instagram may be breaching landmark online-platform rules and ordered Meta Platforms to do more to prevent children under 13 from accessing the services
In March, Meta said that it would allow AI rivals access to WhatsApp for a fee after the EC threatened interim measures during an abuse-of-dominance investigation. The Commission later argued the access terms could still exclude third-party providers
Meta was fined €797.7 million (RM3.72 billion) in November 2024 over practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace and was charged in July 2024 with breaching the DMA through its “pay or consent” advertising model
Microsoft
In March, the UK’s CMA said it would investigate Microsoft’s business software ecosystem, including software licensing practices in cloud computing
In September last year, Microsoft avoided a potentially hefty EU antitrust fine by promising to reduce prices for Office products, excluding its Teams app, after the European Commission had charged the United States company with illegally bundling the app with its Office software suite
TikTok
In February, EU regulators charged TikTok with breaching online content rules through what they described as addictive platform features
In October 2025, the EC said that TikTok and Meta had failed to provide researchers with adequate access to public data as required under the DSA
TikTok was also charged in May 2025 with failing to comply with DSA requirements relating to an advertising repository intended to help users and researchers identify scam advertisements. The company avoided a fine after offering concessions
X (Formerly Twitter)
In January, the EC said it would investigate X’s AI chatbot Grok over concerns that it may disseminate illegal content, including manipulated images
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission opened a formal investigation into Grok in February, while French police raided X’s offices days later as part of a separate probe
X was fined €120 million (RM559.7 million) in December for breaching online content rules, marking the first sanction under the DSA. The company submitted remedies in March related to its blue-check verification system, which regulators are assessing
