The European Commission hit Google with two fines totalling €890 million on Thursday for violating the Digital Markets Act, one for giving its own services preferential placement in Google Search and one for blocking app developers from directing users to cheaper alternatives outside the Play Store. These are Google’s first DMA fines, but the fifth and sixth competition penalties against the company overall, bringing the cumulative total to €10.38 billion over nearly two decades. At this pace, Google is basically funding a small member state.
“Today, the European Commission took two decisions finding non-compliance by Google with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) for self-preferencing its own services on Google Search, and for putting in place restrictions on businesses to direct consumers to alternative, often cheaper, purchase channels on Google Play (steering).” reads the press release published by the European Commission. “In this regard, the Commission issued Google a fine of €460 million and a fine of €430 million respectively.”
The search fine covers Google’s handling of shopping, hotels, transport, and sports results, where the Commission found the company systematically promoted its own products over rivals. The Play Store fine targets steering restrictions that prevented developers from telling users they could buy the same app or subscription elsewhere for less.
Despite the scale of the penalties, the Commission signaled that ongoing daily fines for non-compliance are unlikely.
“The Commission notes that, after a constructive dialogue, Google has proposed and started testing changes to how it presents its own services on Google Search for free services such as shopping, hotels and flights.” EU continues. “The Commission will monitor the implementation of these solutions which constitute substantial progress towards compliance.”
The Commission described this as substantial progress and flagged a “constructive dialogue” with Google, which is regulatory language for “we’re not done but we’re not going to war either.”
Google has 60 days to comply with orders to treat rivals fairly and allow developers to redirect users away from the Play Store. The company rejected the findings and didn’t rule out taking the Commission to court. President of Global Affairs Kent Walker argued that complying would force Google to strip out real-time search features like hotel pricing and flight availability, and remove safety protections from the Play Store, framing the decisions as harmful to European users rather than protective of them.
“The Commission also notes that Google has proposed and started testing changes to how it presents shopping ads and content related services, such as sports.” states the press release. “The Commission is currently assessing these changes and will continue its dialogue with Google in light of today’s decision.”
That extension to AI features is the part of this decision that will matter most in the long run, as AI-generated summaries are increasingly becoming the first layer of search results that users interact with. The fines are the third under the DMA after Apple and Meta were penalized in April last year, and the U.S. government’s response was predictable.
Reuters reported that trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the actions are “driving massive uncertainty for U.S. exports.” though no specific retaliatory measures were announced.
“The two non-compliance decisions were adopted after a thorough investigation, including feedback from market participants, and extensive dialogue with Google.” concludes the press release. “When calculating the fines, the Commission has assessed the gravity, duration and recurrence of the breaches and concluded that the level of fines imposed are proportionate and appropriate.
Google may challenge today’s decisions in court.
Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon
(SecurityAffairs – hacking, EU)