EU Slaps Google With $1 Billion Fine In First Major DMA Enforcement

The European Commission has delivered its heaviest blow yet under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), issuing two non-compliance decisions against Google. The twin fines total €890 million (around $1.02 billion in U.S. currency), the biggest ever related to a DMA violation, and target two core pillars of Google's lucrative business. One is related to how it displays search results and the other targets billing and linking on the Google Play Store. The record fine tops the combined penalties the EU levied against Apple and Meta last year.

The larger portion of the penalty, a €460 million fine, focuses directly on Google Search. European regulators ruled that Google gives preferential treatment to its own vertical services, such as shopping, hotels, transportation, and sports results, while relegating competing third-party aggregators and comparison services to less visible real estate. Under the DMA's strict gatekeeper rules, platforms are explicitly forbidden from self-preferencing their own...

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