EU Fines Google €890 Million for DMA Violations
The European Union has penalized Google with a €890 million fine (roughly $1 billion) for breaches of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), marking one of the largest regulatory actions against the tech giant under Europe's landmark tech legislation.
Search Results Favoritism
The larger of the two fines—€460 million—addresses Google's practice of giving preferential treatment to its own Shopping, Hotels, and Flights services within Google Search results. Regulators determined that this self-preferencing gave Google's services an unfair competitive advantage over rival comparison shopping and travel platforms.
Payment Steering Restrictions
The second fine of €430 million targets Google's Play Store policies that prevented Android app developers from freely directing users to alternative payment systems. This restriction limited developers' ability to offer consumers cheaper payment options available outside Google's billing system, a practice the DMA aims to prohibit.
Regulatory Context
These fines are among the first major penalties issued under the DMA, which took effect in 2024 and designates certain large tech platforms as "gatekeepers" subject to stricter competition rules. The European Commission has signaled continued scrutiny of Big Tech compliance, with ongoing investigations into other potential DMA violations by Google and other platforms.
Google has faced previous antitrust penalties from EU regulators totaling billions of euros over the past decade, though these earlier cases were brought under older competition frameworks rather than the DMA.