Google ordered to pay €890M in EU antitrust ruling

The European Commission announced that Google has breached the Digital Markets Act (DMA), imposing combined fines of €890 million on the tech giant for anticompetitive practices in Google Search and the Google Play Store.

The Commission issued two separate decisions: a €460 million fine for Google favoring its own services over competitors' in search results, and a €430 million fine for restricting app developers from directing customers toward cheaper purchase options outside Google Play.

Self-preferencing in search

Brussels regulators found that Google has been giving preferential treatment to its own products—including shopping, hotel, transport, and sports results—over comparable third-party services within Google Search. Under the DMA, companies designated as "gatekeepers" are barred from ranking their own offerings above rivals' and must apply transparent, fair, and non-discriminatory criteria when ranking services.

Investigators determined that Google displays its own services more prominently, such as placing them at the top of results pages or giving them enhanced visuals and filters, while third-party alternatives are not afforded the same visibility.

Restrictions on app developers

The second decision concerns Google Play's so-called "steering" rules. Under the DMA, developers distributing apps through Google Play are entitled to inform users—free of charge—about alternative, often cheaper, deals available elsewhere, and to direct them to those offers, whether on external websites or rival app stores.

The Commission concluded Google was blocking developers from freely promoting such alternatives and finalizing transactions with users outside its own ecosystem. While Google is permitted to charge a fee for helping developers acquire new customers through Play, regulators found that both the size of Google's steering-related fees and the length of time it continued charging them exceeded what the law allows.

Remedies ordered

Alongside the fines, the Commission ordered Google to end the non-compliant practices. The company must now treat competing services fairly and without discrimination relative to its own in search rankings, and must allow app developers to communicate, advertise, and close deals with users both inside and outside the Play Store, without technical or contractual obstacles.

Google is required to implement these changes within 60 days or risk further penalty payments of up to 5% of its total global turnover.

Google's response and ongoing dialogue

The Commission noted that, following what it described as constructive engagement, Google has already proposed and begun testing adjustments to how it displays its own free services—such as shopping, hotel, and flight listings—in search results, along with changes to shopping ads and related content like sports results. Brussels said these moves represent "substantial progress" and will continue to be evaluated.

Google has also proposed applying similar principles to its AI Overviews and AI Mode features, a matter the Commission said it will keep discussing with the company. Separately, changes to Google's Play Store steering terms were described as encouraging progress that will be assessed against today's cease-and-desist order.

Enforcing the DMA

The fines reflect what the Commission called the gravity and duration of Google's non-compliance. They follow a lengthy investigatory process: the Commission sent preliminary findings to parent company Alphabet in March 2025, and gave Google added time earlier this year to strengthen its compliance proposals after deeming earlier concessions insufficient.

The DMA, one of the EU's flagship efforts to curb the power of dominant online platforms, allows for fines of up to 10% of a company's global annual turnover, rising to 20% for repeat offenses—making the current penalties well below the maximum possible sanction.

"The Commission continues to engage with Google to ensure compliance with its decisions and the DMA more generally," the EU executive said in its announcement.