EU fines Google €890 million for preferencing search and app store services

The European Commission has fined Google €890 million, approximately $1.015 billion, after concluding that the company abused its position as a designated gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act by favouring its own services in search results and restricting how app developers communicate with users inside the Play Store. The decision, announced on 23 July 2026, marks the most significant enforcement action yet under the DMA's gatekeeper framework and the second major antitrust penalty the Commission has levied against Google in less than a decade.

Two distinct violations under the Digital Markets Act

The Commission's investigation identified two separate breaches. First, Google gave its own vertical search services, shopping, travel, local business listings and sports results, more prominent placement and richer presentation than rival services on Google Search. Second, the company prevented app developers using the Play Store from informing users about cheaper subscription options or alternative payment methods available outside Google's billing system, a practice known as anti-steering.

Henna Virkkunen, the Commissioner responsible for digital affairs, said the investigation 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 added that the company "restricted app developers from offering cheaper offers to customers in the Google Play app store." Both practices, the Commission concluded, violate Articles 5 and 6 of the DMA, which require gatekeepers to treat third-party services fairly and allow developers to communicate freely with end users.

Gatekeeper obligations and the scope of the DMA

Google's parent company Alphabet was designated a gatekeeper in September 2023 alongside Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and ByteDance. The designation covers eight core platform services, including Google Search, the Android operating system, the Play Store, Google Maps, Google Shopping, YouTube, Google Ads and the Chrome browser. Each designation triggers a set of behavioural obligations tailored to the service. For search, the DMA requires gatekeepers to apply transparent, fair and non-discriminatory ranking. For app stores, it bans anti-steering clauses and mandates that developers be allowed to offer alternative payment channels without penalty.

The Commission's decision is the first to impose a fine under Article 30 of the DMA, which allows penalties of up to 10% of a gatekeeper's total worldwide turnover for non-compliance. At Alphabet's 2025 revenue of roughly $307 billion, the theoretical maximum would have exceeded $30 billion. The €890 million figure represents roughly 0.27% of that turnover, suggesting the Commission calibrated the penalty to the specific infractions rather than reaching for the ceiling.

Google's response: product degradation or compliance?

Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, rejected the findings in a statement that framed the remedy as harmful to European users. He described the fine as "product degradation driven by a small group of self-serving complainants" and warned that compliance would "strip away real-time search features Europeans love, like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights, and restaurants, and dismantle safety protections on Google Play." The language mirrors arguments Google made during the DMA's legislative phase, when it warned that interoperability and non-discrimination requirements would degrade security and user experience.

The company has not yet indicated whether it will appeal to the General Court, as it did with the €4.3 billion Android tying fine imposed in 2018. That penalty, which concerned requirements for phone makers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome, was upheld in February 2026 after a five-year legal battle. Google paid the fine but has not fundamentally altered the Android licensing model beyond the minimum changes required by the original decision.

Transatlantic friction over digital enforcement

The decision has already drawn a sharp response from Washington. Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative, said the fine "drove trade uncertainty" and contradicted EU claims of seeking stability in the trading relationship. "The EU often claims that it is looking for stability and predictability in our trading relationship, but these actions are driving massive uncertainty for US exports of goods and services to Europe," Greer said in a statement. The language echoes complaints made during the Section 232 steel and aluminium tariff disputes and the ongoing negotiations over a critical minerals agreement.

European officials have consistently maintained that the DMA applies equally to European and non-European gatekeepers. Of the six designated companies, four are American, one is Chinese and none is headquartered in the EU. The Commission argues that the regulation targets market power, not nationality, and that the obligations are proportionate to the control each gatekeeper exercises over its core platform services.

A pattern of escalating enforcement

The Google decision sits within a broader enforcement push. Earlier in July, the Commission fined Chinese retailer AliExpress €550 million under the Digital Services Act for failing to curb illegal, unsafe and counterfeit goods on its marketplace. On 10 July, the Commission opened formal proceedings against Meta over "addictive design" features on Facebook and Instagram, threatening a heavy fine unless the company changes how its algorithms promote infinite scrolling and autoplay video to minors. The three cases, Google under the DMA, AliExpress under the DSA, Meta under both, signal that the Commission intends to use the full toolkit created by the 2022, 2023 legislative package.

The DMA's gatekeeper framework is still young. The first compliance reports were due in March 2024, and the Commission has been conducting compliance workshops and market testing since. The Google investigation moved unusually fast by EU competition standards, concluding in roughly 16 months. That speed reflects the DMA's ex-ante nature: the obligations are defined in the regulation itself, so the Commission does not need to prove dominance and abuse from scratch as it does under Article 102 TFEU.

What compliance might look like

The Commission has not published the detailed remedial measures Google must implement, but the decision's reasoning points to several concrete changes. In search, Google will likely need to apply a non-discriminatory ranking algorithm to vertical results, display rival comparison services in a dedicated carousel or unit with equivalent visual weight, and provide third parties with access to the same click-and-conversion data its own services use. In the Play Store, the company must allow developers to include links or buttons that direct users to external payment pages, display alternative pricing, and communicate promotional offers without Google taking a commission on transactions completed off-platform.

Apple faced similar requirements after the Commission found its App Store rules violated the DMA in a separate proceeding. Apple's initial compliance, allowing alternative app marketplaces and external payment links but imposing a 27% commission on external transactions and a €0.50 per-install fee, was widely criticised as malicious compliance. The Commission has since opened a non-compliance investigation. Google's response will be watched for whether it follows a similar playbook or offers a more substantive opening.

The economics of gatekeeper regulation

The DMA rests on an economic theory that certain digital platforms exhibit tipping dynamics: network effects, data advantages and economies of scale create barriers to entry that traditional ex-post competition law cannot dismantle quickly enough. By imposing ex-ante rules, the EU aims to keep markets contestable before monopolies cement. Critics argue the regulation risks freezing business models, discouraging investment in platform innovation, and handing regulatory discretion to a centralised bureaucracy. The Google decision will feed both narratives.

For rival comparison shopping services, travel aggregators and sports data providers, the ruling could restore traffic lost to Google's own units. For app developers, especially subscription-based businesses like streaming services, dating apps and productivity tools, the ability to bypass Google's 15, 30% commission on in-app purchases could materially improve margins. The Commission estimates that European consumers spend over €20 billion annually on digital goods and services through app stores, so even a modest shift to external billing represents hundreds of millions of euros in redirected revenue.

The Commission's decision is published in the Official Journal and available on the European Commission press corner. The Digital Markets Act text can be consulted on EUR-Lex. The gatekeeper designation decisions are listed on the DG Competition digital markets page.