In a historic milestone for European digital regulation, Google has become the first major tech giant hit with a heavy penalty under the European Union’s landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA), receiving a combined fine of €890 million (£759 million) for alleged abuse of market dominance. The penalty, issued by the European Commission, splits into two separate violations of the DMA’s strict competition rules.
The first €460 million fine stems from regulators’ finding that Google systematically prioritized its own flight and hotel booking services over competing platforms in its general search results. The second €430 million penalty relates to restrictive policies on Google’s Play Store, where regulators confirmed the company blocked users from accessing lower-priced app and content offers available through third-party marketplaces outside Google’s closed ecosystem.
European regulators argue that Google’s self-preferencing practices cut off consumer choice and create an unfair playing field that squeezes out smaller competitors, undermining innovation across the European digital market. EU Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera emphasized the core principle behind the DMA: digital companies should win market share based on the quality of their offerings, not through leveraging their existing dominant position. “The best products should succeed because they’re better, not because they’re owned by the company running the search engine,” Ribera stated.
EU Digital Commissioner Henna Virkkunen echoed this stance, noting that the enforcement action is designed to open up the market for new entrants and encourage broader innovation across the bloc. “After this decision, we want to make sure that there is more competition and also other companies are able to innovate,” she said.
Google has pushed back sharply against the ruling, arguing that complying with the EU’s requirements will force harmful changes to services relied on by millions of European consumers. Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, said the company would be required to remove popular real-time search features that users value, including instant pricing and availability updates for hotels, flights, and local restaurants, as well as dismantle core safety protections built into the Google Play Store. “This isn’t fair competition,” Walker said.
European officials rejected Google’s warnings, maintaining that the regulatory requirements are a necessary check on the power of dominant platform operators to prevent them from disadvantaging competing businesses. This penalty marks the latest in a years-long series of clashes between Google and European regulators, which have previously issued billions of euros in fines against the company for separate antitrust violations dating back more than a decade.
Google now faces a 60-day deadline to bring its practices into compliance with DMA requirements. The company also retains the option to challenge the European Commission’s ruling by bringing the case before the EU’s courts.