Europe has fined Google 890 million euros ($1 billion) for illegally abusing its “gatekeeper” regulatory powers against competition, the EU Commission said in a press release. The move is bound to stoke trade tensions between Europe and the United States after the Trump administration threatened to retaliate against what it called the EU’s “unfair” trade policies.
The EU Commission (EC) said Google used its dominant search engine position to unfairly promote its shopping, travel, gaming and other services. It did this by showing its services at the top while pushing its competitors down in the search results, the regulators added. “Under DMA [Digital Markets Act]gatekeepers may not treat their services as superior to third-party services. They must apply transparent, fair and non-discriminatory conditions to these positions,” the EC wrote.
The commission said Google also unfairly prevented developers from informing Google Play users of other payment options that would have reduced Google’s fees. All of that violates the DMA, which was passed in 2022 to prevent major tech platforms from abusing their market power.
“The best brands should succeed because they are better, not because they belong to the company that owns the search engine,” said VP Teresa Ribera of the European Commission’s competition policy. “This is the promise of the DMA, to protect fairness, choice and innovation in digital markets for the benefit of all European citizens.”
Google must comply with the ruling in 60 days or risk additional fines of up to 5 percent of its global profits. The company’s general counsel, Kent Walker, said the decision would hurt European users. “This is not fair competition; it is product destruction,” he said The New York Times in the statement. “Legislation should improve products, not make them worse.” The fine represents less than 1 percent of Google’s $112.1 billion quarterly profit that was recently announced in its earnings report.
European officials said the timing of the announcement had nothing to do with news that Trump is expected to introduce new tariffs on European goods. Viewers are now waiting to see how the US government responds, after lawmakers urged the president to take “strong measures” against EU regulation of American technology companies.
However, US regulators have also targeted Google for similar types of anti-competitive practices. Last year, it was ordered to provide search data to competitors following a 2020 DOJ lawsuit against the company. “Google is independent, and has acted as one to maintain its independence,” said the presiding judge back in 2024.
The $1 billion fine is far from the EU’s largest sanction against the search giant. Earlier this month, Google lost its final appeal against a $4.7 billion EU antitrust fine surrounding its Android mobile operating system from 2018. Google was also fined $2.8 billion for eating up all of its search space in 2017, losing its final appeal of that fine in 2024.
