Google DMA fine tops $1 billion over search and app store rules
The European Commission fined Google over search and Google Play practices, giving it 60 days to change or face more penalties.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
The European Commission imposed a Google DMA fine totaling more than $1 billion on Thursday, saying Google violated the EU’s Digital Markets Act in search results and Google Play rules. The decision makes Google the third major tech company to face large penalties under the law, after Apple and Meta were fined last spring.
The Commission said Google must pay $522 million for favoring its own services in Google Search and $488 million for anti-steering practices tied to Google Play. The anti-steering finding covers fees or limits that the Commission said kept app developers from pointing users to cheaper ways to buy outside Google’s app store.
Google has 60 days to change its services, according to the Commission, or it could face additional daily penalties. The EU wants Google to treat outside services shown in search results fairly against its own offerings in areas including shopping, hotels and flights, and to let developers promote outside offers and sign up users away from Google Play.
What did Google do to violate the DMA?
The Digital Markets Act is an EU law aimed at large online platforms that control access between businesses and users. In this case, the Commission said Google used that position to give its own services better treatment in search and to limit developers’ ability to steer customers away from Google Play.
Google can challenge the decision. Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, told Reuters that the company disagrees with the ruling and is considering an appeal.
Walker said Google believes the required changes would weaken products used in Europe. He said compliance would force Google to remove real-time search features for hotels, flights and restaurants and undo safety protections in Google Play.
Why the fine could become a US-EU fight
Reuters reported that 25 Republican lawmakers asked President Donald Trump before the decision to respond to the expected fine with trade investigations. Those investigations could put tariffs or limits on EU access to US technology on the table if they supported lawmakers’ claims that the EU is using the DMA against American companies, Reuters reported.
The lawmakers also argued that Apple and Meta should not be treated as DMA gatekeepers when Chinese companies such as Temu and AliExpress are not under the same obligations, according to Reuters. Their letter said EU access to the US market could be limited if the bloc keeps pursuing what the lawmakers called discriminatory digital policies.
European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told Reuters that the EU has the right to regulate economic activity within its own territory, including digital markets. Regnier said the Commission would keep applying its rules fairly and without discrimination, while leaving room for cooperation with the United States on digital issues.
Google has already started making changes
The Commission said Google has made progress on changes to Google Play steering terms. It also said Google has tested changes to how search displays Google’s own free services, including shopping, hotel and flight results, as well as shopping ads and content tied to services such as sports.
Google has also said it will voluntarily adjust AI Overviews and AI Mode to address the Commission’s concerns about self-preferencing and anti-steering, according to the Commission.
Yelp welcomed the ruling. David Segal, Yelp’s vice president of public policy, said Google has degraded its own user experience when asked to give competitors equal footing, and said enforcement of the DMA should benefit European consumers and businesses.
Teresa Ribera, the Commission official responsible for competition policy, defended the decision by saying better products should win on quality rather than because they are owned by the company running the search engine. She also said app developers should be able to tell consumers where to find the best offers, even when an app store owner does not receive a cut.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.