The European Commission on Thursday (23 July) found that Google abused its dominant position in the search engine market. The American tech giant favours its own services, such as Shopping, Hotels and Sports results, at the top of search listings. Separetely, it restricts app developers on Google Play from steering consumers to cheaper offers elsewhere. The EU executive has imposed a combined €890 million fine and given Google 60 days to change its practices – or face further penalties.
The fines arrive under the Digital Markets Act. The DMA is an EU law that took effect in 2022 to stop the largest “gatekeeper” tech platforms from abusing that power. These gatekeepers are companies whose services are so dominant they can box in users and squeeze out rivals. It requires firms like Google to treat competitors fairly, avoid self-preferencing, and let businesses reach customers outside a gatekeeper’s own ecosystem. Google was designated a gatekeeper for Google Search in September 2023.
Thursday’s Commission investigation, opened in March 2024, found two separate breaches. First, Google gave its own services – including Shopping, Hotels, Transport and Sports results – more prominent placement in search results, through top positioning or enhanced visuals. Meanwhile, comparable third-party services received no such treatment. That breach earned a €460 million fine. Second, Google’s Play Store rules prevented app developers from freely telling users about cheaper alternatives, or from directing them to complete purchases outside the app store; where Google did allow this, its fees and charging periods went beyond what the DMA permits. That cost the company a further €430 million.
The Commission ordered Google to end both practices, requiring fair and non-discriminatory treatment of rivals in search, and freedom for app developers to promote and conclude deals with users both inside and outside Google Play.
Google pushed back hard. Kent Walker, the company’s President of Global Affairs, said complying would mean stripping away “real-time Search features Europeans love – like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights, and restaurants” and weakening safety protections on Google Play. “This isn’t fair competition; it’s product degradation,” he said, adding that Google may appeal the decision.
This is one of many recent run-ins between the EU and Google. Just a week earlier, on 16 July, the Commission ordered Google to give rival AI assistants equal access to Android features and to share anonymised search data with competing search engines. Thursday’s fines are also the third handed down under the DMA, following penalties against Apple and Meta in April 2025, and add to more than €10 billion in EU antitrust fines levied against Google since 2017.
The timing raises the stakes with Washington. The decision lands just as Section 122 tariffs against the EU are set to expire on Friday (24 July), and as President Trump prepares to hold a press conference to decide on the broader tariff picture. Trump has previously threatened “responsive actions” over what he sees as unfair targeting of American tech firms. A Commission official insisted the timing of Thursday’s fines was purely procedural, not a signal aimed at the White House — but with tariffs and Google’s punishment landing in the same week, few in Brussels expect that explanation to calm tempers on the other side of the Atlantic.
