EU fines Google €890m under digital markets law

The European Commission has imposed a total fine of €890 million on Google for breaching the European Union’s Digital Markets Act. The decision, dated July 23, 2026, marks a significant enforcement step under the new regulatory framework for large online platforms. The penalty is divided between conduct linked to Google Search and to the Google Play app store.

Regulators concluded that Google’s practices violated obligations designed to ensure fair treatment of business users and rival services. Alongside the financial penalties, the Commission issued orders requiring Google to adjust its services and business terms to bring them into line with the DMA.

Out of the total fine, €460 million relates to self-preferencing in Google Search. The Commission found that Google gave its own services in areas such as shopping, hotels, transport and sports more prominent placement and enhanced presentation in search results than competing third-party services. These enhancements included visual elements and filters that were not made available on comparable terms to rivals.

This differential treatment was deemed to disadvantage competing services that rely on visibility in search results to reach users. The decision focuses on how Google’s search design and ranking choices affected competition in specific verticals, rather than on general search as a whole.

A further €430 million penalty was imposed for Google Play Store rules that the Commission found to be incompatible with the DMA. Regulators determined that app developers using Google Play were prevented from freely informing users about, or directing them to, alternative offers outside the Play Store, including offers that were often cheaper.

The Commission also concluded that Google’s steering-related fees and the duration of such restrictions exceeded what the DMA permits. These findings target contractual and technical conditions that influence how developers can communicate with users and offer alternative payment or distribution channels.

The European Commission has ordered Google to end the non-compliant practices and has set a 60-day period for the company to achieve compliance. If Google fails to do so, it faces the possibility of periodic penalty payments. These additional sanctions can reach up to 5% of the company’s worldwide turnover for continued non-compliance under the DMA framework.

Authorities indicated that they will monitor Google’s implementation of the required changes. The focus will be on verifying that adjustments to search presentation and Play Store rules effectively remove the identified restrictions and preferential treatment.

Google has stated that it may challenge the Commission’s decision in court. At the same time, the company has proposed and begun testing modifications to how it presents its own services in search and to its steering terms on Google Play. Regulators have described some of these changes as substantial progress toward compliance.

Google has warned that implementing the DMA remedies would require it to remove certain real-time search features and weaken some safety and protection mechanisms in Google Play. The company argues that these adjustments would degrade the product experience for users in Europe, while EU authorities continue to assess whether the tested changes satisfy the law’s requirements.