The European Commission has fined Google €890 million for anti-competitive practices, citing violations of the Digital Markets Act.
Key facts
- •The European Commission opened its investigation into Google's practices in March 2024.
- •The total fine of €890 million consists of two separate penalties of €460 million and €430 million.
- •Google has 60 days to comply with the Digital Markets Act following the commission's ruling.
- •Max von Thun of the Open Markets Institute Europe criticized the commission for taking over two years to reach this stage.
- •The commission cited the presence of 482 million active non-signed-in Google accounts in the EU as a factor in determining the fine's size.
The European Commission issued an €890 million fine against Google on Thursday, July 23, for violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The penalty follows an investigation opened in March 2024 into the company's search and app store practices. Google now has 60 days to bring its operations into compliance with the regulation.
By the numbers
Details of the Violations
The commission imposed a €460 million penalty after finding that Google’s search engine prioritizes its own services, such as Google Flights and Google Store, over competitors. An additional €430 million fine was issued because Google allegedly charged excessive fees to businesses that directed consumers to alternative, cheaper purchase channels on Google Play. A commission official stated that the intervention aims to ensure third-party services with comparable offerings receive a fair chance to be discovered by users. The official noted that the scale of the fine reflects the widespread use of Google services, citing 482 million active non-signed-in accounts within the European Union.
Advertisement
This article was independently rewritten by ManyPress editorial AI from reporting originally published by EUobserver.
