Google has been fined €890m (£759m) by the European Commission for abusing its power by favouring its own apps and services over those from rivals, in the first major enforcement action against the tech giant under the EU's new Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The penalty, announced on 23 July 2026, is comprised of two separate breaches. The Commission imposed a €460m fine after finding that Google favoured its own services for booking flights and hotels over competitors in search results. A further €430m penalty was levied due to Google's Play Store rules, which regulators said prevented users from seeing cheaper offers available outside the company's own marketplace.
“Google fined €890m by EU for breaching Digital Markets Act by favouring own apps over rivals.”
EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said companies should succeed because of the quality of their products rather than their market position. "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 echoed those thoughts: "After this decision, we want to make sure that there is more competition and also other companies are able to innovate."
Google criticised the decision sharply. Kent Walker, the company's president of global affairs, argued that complying with the EU's requirements could 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."
EU officials rejected that argument, saying the measures are necessary to prevent dominant platforms from disadvantaging rivals.
The fine marks the latest chapter in a long history of disputes between Google and European regulators. The company has previously received billions of euros in fines over separate competition cases, including a €4.1bn penalty for using Android to block rivals.
Zach Meyers, director of research at the Centre on Regulation in Europe, noted a delay in the competition authority finalising its decision against Google, telling the BBC it was likely driven "by a desire not to upset EU-US relations". However, as US president Donald Trump has frequently threatened or imposed new tariffs, the Commission came to see its efforts as futile and went ahead with the fine. Meyers added that it "reflects a growing view among EU officials that the US president's unpredictability and unwillingness to comply with his own deals means that the EU has little to gain by treading softly".