EU fines Google €890 million for steering users to its own services under Digital Markets Act

The European Commission has fined Google €890 million, approximately $1 billion at current exchange rates, for breaching the Digital Markets Act by steering users of its search engine and Google Play store toward its own services at the expense of competitors. The penalty, announced on Thursday, is the largest single fine issued under the DMA since the regulation took full effect in 2024 and brings the total of DMA sanctions against one company to a new high.

The Digital Markets Act and Google's gatekeeper obligations

The DMA, which entered into force in 2023 and applied from March 2024, designates certain large platforms as "gatekeepers" and imposes specific obligations on them to ensure fair and contestable digital markets. Google's parent company Alphabet was among the first six firms designated, alongside Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and ByteDance. The rules prohibit gatekeepers from ranking their own products or services more favourably than those of third parties, from preventing users from uninstalling pre-installed apps, and from blocking business users from communicating directly with customers about offers outside the gatekeeper's platform.

The Commission's investigation, opened in March 2024, focused on two core services: Google Search and Google Play. In both cases, the executive found that Google had implemented measures that directed users toward its own vertical search services, such as Google Flights, Google Hotels and Google Shopping, and its own billing system on the Play Store, while making it harder for rivals to reach the same audience. The decision text, which runs to several hundred pages, details specific technical mechanisms used to achieve this self-preferencing, including the design of search result carousels and the contractual restrictions placed on app developers.

What the Commission found: self-preferencing on Search and Play

On Google Search, the Commission concluded that the company gave prominent placement to its own specialised search services, flights, hotels, local businesses, shopping, through dedicated units that appear above organic results. Rivals in these verticals, such as Expedia, Booking.com, TripAdvisor and independent price-comparison sites, were pushed down the page, reducing their visibility and traffic. The Commission said this behaviour persisted even after Google introduced changes in 2017 following an earlier antitrust decision that imposed a €2.42 billion fine for similar conduct in comparison shopping.

On Google Play, the investigation centred on the company's requirement that developers use Google Play Billing for in-app purchases of digital goods, taking a commission of 15 to 30 percent, while simultaneously preventing developers from informing users about cheaper subscription or purchase options available outside the app. The Commission said this deprived European consumers of price transparency and limited developers' ability to compete on price. Teresa Ribera, the executive vice president responsible for competition policy, put it plainly: 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.

Google's response: feature removal and safety claims

Google's head of global affairs, Kent Walker, reacted sharply, stating that the company was being forced to "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". He characterised the decision as unfair competition rather than a remedy for it. The company has not yet indicated whether it will appeal to the General Court, though it has challenged every previous EU antitrust decision against it. In September 2024, the General Court largely upheld the €4.125 billion fine imposed in 2018 for Android-related practices, rejecting Google's appeal on the core findings while reducing the amount slightly on procedural grounds.

The Commission gave Google 60 days to comply with the decision, after which periodic penalty payments of up to 5 percent of average daily worldwide turnover can be imposed for each day of non-compliance. This mechanism, used previously in the Microsoft browser case of the 2000s, is designed to make delay prohibitively expensive. A second EU official noted that the €890 million fine represents only 0.22 percent of Google's global turnover, well below the 10 percent ceiling the DMA allows for a first infringement. The relatively modest proportion suggests the Commission calibrated the penalty to be significant but not maximal, leaving room for escalation if compliance is not forthcoming.

A pattern of penalties: €8.2 billion in earlier antitrust cases

Thursday's decision is the latest in a long series of EU enforcement actions against Google. Between 2017 and 2019, the Commission issued three landmark antitrust decisions totalling €8.2 billion: €2.42 billion for favouring Google Shopping in search results, €4.34 billion for Android tying practices, and €1.49 billion for restrictive clauses in AdSense contracts. All three were appealed; the Shopping and Android rulings have been substantially upheld by the General Court, while the AdSense case is still pending. In September 2025, a separate investigation under the older Article 102 TFEU framework resulted in a €2.95 billion fine for abusive practices in online advertising technology, a decision that prompted threats of retaliation from the incoming Trump administration.

The DMA was designed precisely to avoid the multi-year investigations and appeals that characterised the Article 102 cases. By setting out ex-ante obligations for designated gatekeepers, the regulation allows the Commission to move more quickly when it identifies non-compliance. The Google investigation took roughly 16 months from opening to decision, fast by EU competition standards, though critics argue it should have been faster given the DMA's clearer legal framework. The Commission has also opened DMA investigations into Apple's App Store rules, Meta's "pay or consent" advertising model, and Microsoft's bundling of Teams with Office, with decisions expected in the coming months.

Transatlantic friction: US political pressure and threatened retaliation

The decision lands at a delicate moment in EU-US relations. In September 2025, then president-elect Donald Trump threatened retaliatory tariffs against the EU over the €2.95 billion ad-tech fine, framing it as an attack on American companies. On Tuesday, 25 Republican members of the US House of Representatives sent a letter to the White House urging the use of trade investigation tools, including Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, against what they called the EU's "discriminatory" digital rules. The letter specifically named the DMA and the Digital Services Act as targets for potential countermeasures.

The Commission appeared unfazed. Ribera told reporters that the EU's duty is to ensure that regulation adopted by its sovereign institutions is fully enforced and respected. She added that similar cases exist in the United States, where the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are pursuing their own antitrust actions against Google, including a landmark monopoly ruling in the search case handed down in August 2024 and a pending trial on ad-tech practices. The EU and US agreed earlier this year to address frictions linked to digital rules through a dedicated dialogue, but those talks have yet to begin. The absence of a functioning forum means each side is operating without a mechanism to de-escalate disputes.

What the fine means for the DMA's credibility

For the DMA to work as intended, the first major enforcement decisions must withstand legal challenge and produce behavioural change. The Google decision will be scrutinised for the precision of its findings, the proportionality of its remedies, and the Commission's ability to monitor compliance effectively. If Google appeals and the General Court overturns or substantially modifies the decision, the regulation's deterrent effect could be weakened. Conversely, a robust ruling that forces tangible changes, such as the removal of self-preferencing carousels or the allowance of external payment links in apps, would validate the ex-ante approach and encourage compliance from other gatekeepers.

The Commission has also signalled that it will use the DMA's market investigation tool to probe whether Google's compliance measures are effective in practice, not merely on paper. This ongoing supervision marks a shift from the traditional ex-post model, where a decision is issued and the case is largely closed. Under the DMA, the Commission retains continuous oversight of gatekeeper conduct, with the power to impose further fines or even structural remedies, including the divestiture of business units, for systematic non-compliance. That ultimate sanction has never been used in EU competition law, but its presence in the DMA text signals the legislature's intent.