Google Hit With €890 Million EU Fine Over DMA Violations

July 23, 2026July 23, 2026

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has been fined €890 million (around $1 billion) by the European Commission for breaching the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), escalating the regulator’s efforts to curb anti-competitive practices by major technology companies. 

The penalty includes €460 million for favouring Google’s own services in Search results and €430 million for restricting app developers from directing users to alternative purchasing options outside the Google Play Store.

According to the Commission, Google’s search engine gave preferential visibility to its own offerings, including shopping, travel, and hotel services, while limiting fair exposure for competing platforms. 

Regulators also concluded that the company’s Play Store policies prevented developers from freely promoting lower-cost offers through external websites or third-party app stores. Google has been given 60 days to implement corrective measures or risk additional periodic financial penalties.

Google criticised the ruling, arguing that the required changes could reduce the quality of popular features such as real-time hotel, flight, and restaurant information while weakening security protections available through Google Play. 

However, EU officials maintained that the Digital Markets Act is designed to ensure competition is based on product quality rather than platform control.

Over the past six months, Google has introduced several compliance measures in response to ongoing DMA scrutiny. Earlier this month, the European Commission issued binding guidance requiring Google to improve interoperability for competing AI assistants on Android devices and establish mechanisms to share anonymised Google Search data with eligible competitors under fair conditions. 

These initiatives form part of the company’s broader efforts to align its services with the DMA framework.

The latest decision further increases Google’s cumulative EU antitrust liabilities while underscoring Europe’s continued commitment to enforcing digital competition rules despite ongoing trade tensions with the United States.

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