Brussels: The European Commission penalised Alphabet’s Google a total of €890 million ($1 billion) on Thursday for breaching the European Union’s landmark Digital Markets Act. The regulatory action marks the first fines issued against the American technology company under the DMA regulations, targeting self-preferencing practices in search results and steering restrictions imposed on app developers within the Google Play ecosystem.
The enforcement action comprises two separate fines handed down by European regulators. The European Commission levied a €460 million penalty after finding that Google favoured its own vertical search services—including shopping, hotels, transport, and sports results—over competing third-party offerings. A second fine of €430 million was imposed over restrictions that prevented mobile app developers from freely directing users to alternative, lower-cost purchasing channels outside the Google Play Store. EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen and antitrust chief Teresa Ribera reiterated that the enforcement aims to ensure fair market competition and maintain a level playing field.
Google strongly criticized the ruling and indicated it may challenge the decision in court. Kent Walker, Google’s President of Global Affairs, stated that compliance would force the company to strip away valuable real-time search features and compromise safety measures on Google Play, characterizing the regulatory intervention as product degradation driven by rival complainants. Despite the substantial penalties, European regulators noted constructive dialogue with the tech giant, indicating that additional daily fines remain unlikely as Google continues testing product modifications to meet European compliance standards.
