The European Commission fined Google €890 million (approximately $1 billion) on Thursday for two separate violations of the Digital Markets Act, marking the first major DMA enforcement action against the search giant and pushing its cumulative EU antitrust liabilities past €10 billion.
The two decisions target different practices, but share a common root: Google using its platform dominance to steer users toward its own services at the expense of competitors.
The first fine, €460 million (approximately $516 million), addresses Google Search. The Commission found that Google displays its own services, shopping, travel, games, and language translation, more prominently at the top of search results while relegating competing services further down the page. This self-preferencing violates the DMA’s requirement that gatekeepers treat their own products and services no more favorably than those of third parties.
The second fine, also part of the same €890 million package, targets the Google Play Store. Regulators concluded that Google imposes unfair restrictions preventing app developers from communicating with customers about alternative, often cheaper, purchase channels, a practice known as anti-steering. The DMA explicitly requires that developers be allowed to inform users of offers outside the app store ecosystem.
The fines are significant, but the real impact lies in the required behavioral remedies. Google must change how its search engine displays results and how its app store governs developer communications. Unlike traditional competition cases that can drag through appeals for years, the DMA is designed for speed: gatekeepers face strict deadlines for compliance, and the Commission can impose periodic penalty payments for continued violations.
The decision brings Google’s total EU antitrust fines to over €10 billion accumulated across multiple cases dating back to 2017, including the €4.3 billion Android case, the €2.4 billion shopping case, and the €1.5 billion AdSense case. However, the DMA represents a fundamentally different enforcement regime, it is not about punishing past conduct but about restructuring how gatekeepers operate going forward.
Google is expected to appeal the decision. The company has argued that its search practices improve user experience and that Play Store rules are standard industry practice.
Sources: Google hit with $1 billion fine for breaking EU antitrust rules (The Verge, July 23, 2026); EU fines Google $1B for breaking antitrust regulations (AP News, July 23, 2026)