EU imposes €890 million fine on Google
The European Commission announced on Thursday a fine of 890 million euros against Google for alleged self-preference practices and unfair treatment of app developers, just as the Trump administration prepares a new round of trade duties.
The fine culminates an investigation that the Commission launched in March 2024 under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law that sets out a list of dos and don'ts for big technology companies that dominate key digital markets.
The main element of the case, which led to a fine of 460 million euros, concerns Google's search engine, which is alleged to give systematic preferential treatment to its own services — Google Shopping, Google Hotels, Google Flights — while lowering the level of competitors in search results.
Self-preference first came into the spotlight as a legal theory in the landmark Google Shopping antitrust case, upheld by the EU Court of Justice in 2024, more than a decade after the investigation was formally opened in 2010.
The DMA later codified the concept, with the express purpose of speeding up enforcement and removing many of the evidentiary hurdles required under traditional antitrust law.
The second part of the case, amounting to the remaining 430 million euros, concerns allegations by app developers that Google prevents them from telling consumers how to leave its ecosystem, for example by promoting cheaper offers available outside its app store or signaling alternative payment systems.
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