EU hits Google with new $1bn fine, saying it broke digital antitrust rules

The fine is part of a major crackdown on Big Tech by Brussels which says it is seeking to ensure fair competition in the digital realm.

The European Union has fined Google 890 million euros ($1bn), saying the technology giant broke digital antitrust rules by steering users of Google Play and its search engine towards its own services and apps at the expense of rivals.

Thursday’s penalty is the latest in Brussels’ crackdown on Big Tech, which has seen the bloc lead the world in reining in the largest firms from Silicon Valley to Beijing.

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Google had recently lost its appeal against a $4.5bn antitrust fine imposed for throttling competition and reducing consumer choice through the dominance of its mobile Android operating system.

The European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, said it was acting in the interest of consumers.

“The best products should succeed because they’re better, not because they’re owned by the company running the search engine. And European consumers have a right to be told by app developers where to sign up to the best offers, even when the app store owner does not get a cut,” said Teresa Ribera, the commission’s executive vice president for clean, just and competitive transition.

“In the EU, businesses have the right to compete fairly. Gatekeepers have the obligation to ensure a level playing field and consumers the right to choose for cheaper alternative offers,” European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said.

The European Commission’s Thomas Regnier speaks during a media conference in Brussels [Virginia Mayo/AP]

‘Not fair competition’

The fines are the biggest in total against one company under the competition law known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), after the EU slapped penalties of 200 million and 500 million euros ($228m and $570m) against Meta and Apple respectively in 2025.

The DMA came into effect in 2024 and seeks to rein in what the EU views as Big Tech’s excesses in a bid to ensure fair competition in the digital realm.

The fines against Google have been expected for months as part of a probe that began in 2024, but Brussels has faced claims of delaying the move over fears of hurting ties with Washington.

The EU can slap fines of up to 10 percent of a company’s total global turnover for breaching the DMA.

A second EU official said the fines were worth 0.22 percent of Google’s turnover.

The fines could rise further if Google fails to comply within 60 days, the commission said, threatening it with “periodic penalty payments”.

Google’s head of global affairs, Kent Walker, said the company was being forced to “strip away real-time Search features Europeans love – like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights, and restaurants – and dismantle safety protections on Google Play”.

“This isn’t fair competition,” he added.

EU ‘discriminatory’ rules

Google is no stranger to EU fines.

Between 2017 and 2019, the EU hit the company with fines worth a total of 8.2 billion euros ($9.3bn).

Brussels imposed a 2.95-billion-euro ($3.4bn) fine in a separate case under different antitrust rules in September last year, after which Trump threatened to retaliate against the EU.

The EU, however, appeared sanguine on Thursday about any United States retaliation.

The EU’s duty is to “ensure that the regulation that is being adopted by our sovereign institutions is fully enforced and respected,” Ribera told reporters.

She said there were similar cases in the US and American authorities were “dealing with very similar approaches”.

The EU and the US agreed this year to address frictions linked to the bloc’s digital rules through talks, but they have yet to begin.

Some 25 US lawmakers belonging to Trump’s Republican Party in a letter on Tuesday urged the president to use tools against the EU’s “discriminatory” digital rules, such as trade investigations that could lead to higher levies.