Google has been hit with a €890m (£759m) fine by the European Commission in the first major enforcement action under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark law designed to curb the power of the world's biggest tech companies. The penalty, announced on 23 July 2026, consists of two separate breaches: €460m for favouring its own services in search results for flights and hotel bookings, and €430m for preventing app developers from steering consumers to cheaper offers outside Google's Play Store.
EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said the decision was about ensuring companies compete on merit. 'The best products should succeed because they're better, not because they're owned by the company running the search engine,' she said. EU tech boss Henna Virkkunen added: 'After this decision, we want to make sure that there is more competition and also other companies are able to innovate.'
“Google fined €890m by EU for breaching Digital Markets Act by favouring its own apps and search results”
Google immediately criticised the ruling. Kent Walker, the company's president of global affairs, argued that complying with the DMA would damage services used by millions of European customers. 'To comply, we are having 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,' he said. 'This isn't fair competition.'
The Commission rejected that argument, insisting the measures are necessary to prevent dominant platforms from disadvantaging rivals. A senior official said consumers would be direct beneficiaries: 'Search results will be different in Europe. They will have to adapt their search engine going forward.'
The fine comes after a delay in the Commission's decision, which Zach Meyers, director of research at the Centre on Regulation in Europe, said was likely driven 'by a desire not to upset EU-US relations'. With US president Donald Trump frequently threatening or imposing new tariffs, the Commission ultimately went ahead. A senior EU official insisted the bloc had the 'sovereign right' to regulate US tech companies and that the timing was not connected to tariffs.
Max von Thun, director of the Open Markets Institute Europe thinktank, described the fine as the 'bare minimum' for a company that made revenues of over $400bn last year. 'Having finally established Google's non-compliance, the commission must now move quickly to force Google to end its anti-competitive practices once and for all,' he said. 'Europe's startups and innovators cannot wait much longer.' The Commission has ordered Google to treat third-party services in its search results in a 'fair and non-discriminatory manner' and allow app developers to make offers outside its own store. Google has already begun testing changes to its search display, which the EU described as 'substantial progress towards compliance'.