EU Slaps Google With $1 Billion Fine In First Major DMA Enforcement
The European Commission has delivered its heaviest blow yet under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), issuing two non-compliance decisions against Google. The twin fines total €890 million (around $1.02 billion in U.S. currency), the biggest ever related to a DMA violation, and target two core pillars of Google's lucrative business. One is related to how it displays search results and the other targets billing and linking on the Google Play Store. The record fine tops the combined penalties the EU levied against Apple and Meta last year.
The larger portion of the penalty, a €460 million fine, focuses directly on Google Search. European regulators ruled that Google gives preferential treatment to its own vertical services, such as shopping, hotels, transportation, and sports results, while relegating competing third-party aggregators and comparison services to less visible real estate. Under the DMA's strict gatekeeper rules, platforms are explicitly forbidden from self-preferencing their own services over rivals.
"Google displays its own services more prominently in search results, including at the top of the search results page or by using enhanced visuals and filters, while similar third-party services do not have the same prominence," the regulatory body said in a press release.
The remaining €430 million penalty hits the Google Play Store for what Brussels deemed as anti-steering practices, coming shortly after Google ended up exhausting its final appeal over a record $4.7 billion Android penalty. Regulators determined that Google improperly restricted mobile app developers from freely directing Android users to cheaper alternative payment channels or external websites outside of the Play Store ecosystem. The Commission also took issue with fees Google charged developers, finding them to be excessive to the point that they violate the DMA.
As part of the ruling, the Commission is ordering to implement two specific measures:
- Treat third-party services that feature on Google's search results in a fair and non-discriminatory manner by reference to its own services, and
- Allow app developers distributing their apps via Google Play Store, both technically and contractually, to freely communicate, promote offers and conclude contracts with users not only within but also outside the Google Play app store.
It should come as a surprise to no one that Google is pushing back against the decisions.
"To comply, we are having to strip away real-time Search features Europeans love—like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights and restaurants—and dismantle safety protections on Google Play," Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer at Google, said in a statement.
Walker went on to say that this "isn't fair competition; it's product degradation driven by a small group of self-serving complainants, with European businesses and consumers taking the hit."
Despite the contentious remarks, the Commission insists it has engaged in "constructive dialogue" with Google, building on recent EU directives forcing Google to open search data and Android features to rivals. The Commission says Google both proposed and started testing changes to its search business and payment steering terms.
