The European Commission announced a €890 million fine against Google on Thursday over alleged self-preferencing practices and unfair treatment of app developers, just as the Trump administration prepares a fresh round of trade duties.
The fine caps an investigation the Commission launched in March 2024 under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law setting out a list of dos and don'ts for large tech companies that dominate key digital markets.
The flagship element of the case, leading to a fine worth €460 million, concerns Google's search engine allegedly giving systematic preferential treatment to its own services — Google Shopping, Google Hotels, Google Flights — while downgrading competitors in search results.
Self-preferencing first took centre stage as a legal theory in the landmark Google Shopping antitrust case, confirmed 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 explicit aim of speeding up enforcement and stripping out many of the evidential hurdles required under traditional antitrust law.
