Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google was fined a total of €890 million ($1 billion) on Thursday for flouting European Union rules aimed at reining in the power of Big Tech.
The penalty splits into €460 million for favouring its own shopping and services results in Google Search, and a further sum for restricting app developers on Google Play from steering users to cheaper deals outside the store.
It marks Google's first fine under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the EU's flagship law targeting dominant digital platforms, and follows a non-compliance probe the Commission opened in March 2024.
The Commission said Google has proposed and started testing changes to how it presents shopping ads and related content, and that it will assess those changes while continuing talks with the company, a signal that further fines look unlikely in the near term.
"Our duty and obligation is to comply with the laws, that our laws are fully respected," EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera told reporters.
Google rejected the ruling as unjustified.
"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," said Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs.
The fine adds to a decade of EU enforcement against Google that includes a €2.42 billion Google Shopping penalty in 2017, a €4.34 billion Android fine in 2018 upheld by the EU Court this month, and a €2.95 billion adtech fine last September, pushing Google's cumulative EU penalties past €8 billion.
News Intelligence what this means for the company
Google faces its first Digital Markets Act fine of €890 million—€460 million for favoring its own shopping results in Search and €430 million for restricting app developers on Google Play from steering users to cheaper alternatives. The EU signaled that ongoing "constructive" compliance talks make near-term additional penalties unlikely, though this adds to over €8 billion in cumulative EU antitrust penalties since 2017.
The fine is material relative to Google's Q2 2026 revenue of $119.8 billion (0.75% of quarterly revenue), but the EU's willingness to engage in compliance dialogue rather than escalate suggests regulatory risk may stabilize if Google's proposed changes prove acceptable. However, the DMA remains an ongoing compliance burden with potential for future penalties if remedies are deemed insufficient.
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