Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – The European Union on Thursday hit Google with fines totaling 890 million euros ($1 billion), in a move that risks escalating tensions with the United States. The EU fined the US tech giant 460 million euros for illegally favoring its own services — such as Google Flights and Google Hotels — over rivals in search results. A second fine of 430 million euros was levied because Google barred app developers from showing consumers offers, free of charge, outside the Google Play store, the European Commission said in a statement.
“After this decision, we want to make sure that there is more competition and also other companies are able to innovate,” EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said. A senior EU official said Google still favors its own services, though the second fine covers only the period from March 2024 to December 2025. The US tech giant accused the EU of dismantling safety protections on Google Play through its enforcement. “Regulation should improve products, not make them worse,” Google’s Kent Walker said in a statement.
The fines land just days before the first anniversary of a tariff deal between Washington and Brussels that had eased trade tensions. President Donald Trump’s administration has repeatedly accused Brussels of targeting US tech firms and has threatened retaliatory tariffs. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the fines undermined hopes for smoother trade ties, warning they “pose a real risk to the continuation of transatlantic stability with respect to trade.”
– ‘Not fair competition’ – The penalties are the largest yet against a single company under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the EU’s signature tech competition law. In 2025, the bloc fined Meta 200 million euros and Apple 500 million euros under the same rules. The DMA, which took effect in 2024, aims to curb what Brussels views as Big Tech’s excesses and ensure fair competition in the digital economy. Washington firmly objects to the DMA and other EU tech regulations.
Under the DMA, the EU can fine companies up to 10 percent of their global turnover for violations. An EU official said Thursday’s penalties amount to just 0.22 percent of Google’s turnover. The Commission warned the fines could grow further, threatening “periodic penalty payments” if Google fails to comply within 60 days. “The best products should succeed because they’re better, not because they’re owned by the company running the search engine,” EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said in a statement.
– EU ‘discriminatory’ rules – Google is no stranger to EU fines. Between 2017 and 2019, Brussels hit the company with penalties totaling 8.2 billion euros, and in September last year imposed a separate 2.95-billion-euro fine under different antitrust rules — a move that prompted Trump to threaten retaliation. The EU appeared unfazed Thursday by the prospect of a fresh US response. Brussels’ duty, Ribera told reporters, is to “ensure that the regulation that is being adopted by our sovereign institutions is fully enforced and respected.” She noted that US authorities were pursuing “very similar approaches” in comparable cases of their own.
The EU and the United States agreed earlier this year to address friction over the bloc’s digital rules through talks, though those discussions have yet to begin. Greer said Washington was seeking to “resolve our concerns” about the EU rules through dialogue, but that “real dialogue can only take place during a ceasefire.” The fines against Google had been expected for months, the product of a probe launched in 2024, though Brussels has faced accusations of delaying the decision out of concern for relations with Washington.
On Tuesday, some 25 Republican lawmakers urged Trump in a letter to use tools such as trade investigations against the EU’s “discriminatory” digital rules — a move that could trigger higher tariffs. Virkkunen insisted Europe would not back down. “We are very committed to our rules,” she told journalists.
© 2024 AFP
