The European Commission has fined Google 890 million euros for violating the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), concluding that the company unfairly favored its own services in search results and imposed restrictions on app developers. The decision comes as the Trump administration prepares a new round of U.S. trade tariffs, adding another potential source of friction between Brussels and Washington.
The penalty concludes an investigation launched by the Commission in March 2024 under the DMA, the EU's flagship legislation aimed at curbing the market power of major digital platforms through a set of mandatory rules.
The largest portion of the fine, 460 million euros, relates to Google's search engine. EU regulators found that the company systematically gave preferential treatment to its own services, including Google Shopping, Google Hotels, and Google Flights, while pushing competing platforms lower in search rankings.
The issue of self-preferencing has been at the center of the EU's long-running scrutiny of Google for years. The legal principle was first established in the landmark Google Shopping antitrust case, which was upheld by the EU Court of Justice in 2024 after an investigation that began in 2010. The Digital Markets Act later incorporated those principles to speed up enforcement and reduce the burden of proof required under traditional competition law.
