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The European Commission is fining Google 890 million euros, or just over $1 billion, citing unfair practices that it says put smaller and third-party companies at a disadvantage.
The ruling touched on two areas: Google search and the Google Play Store.
The Commission, which is the EU’s enforcement arm, said that Google search results give preferential treatment — including enhanced visual treatments and top placement on search results pages — to the company’s own services over those from third parties in areas such as shopping, hotels, transportation and sports.
Google also inhibited third-party developers who make apps available on Google Play from communicating with users about cheaper, free or special-offer alternatives, including via third-party app stores, according to the Commission. It said that the company may impose fees on app developers for acquiring new customers via Google Play, but that the costs it was imposing were excessive.
“The best products should succeed because they’re better, not because they’re owned by the company running the search engine,” Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s executive vice president for clean, just and competitive transition, said in a statement. “And European consumers have a right to be told by app developers where to sign up to the best offers, even when the app store owner does not get a cut.”
The EU is ordering Google to treat third-party services fairly across its search results and to let app developers place their apps on Google Play and freely communicate offers within and outside of Google’s app store.
The fine is being imposed under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, enacted several years ago to protect consumer choice by curtailing “gatekeeping” behavior by big tech companies. It is in two parts: 460 million euros related to the search behavior and 430 million euros related to Google Play.
Google has 60 days to comply, or it could face penalties. It has the right to appeal the EU’s fines.
Google is putting changes in place
The company said that the EU’s action would harm European businesses and consumers.
“This implementation of the DMA continues to break everyday products,” Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, said in a statement emailed to CNET. “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.”
Google is already testing changes to how it presents its own services and ads on its search engine, and the EU is monitoring those updates. The Commission is also aware of Google’s plans to handle its AI Overviews and AI Mode. Meanwhile, it said it sees changes already made to Google Play steering terms as good progress.
Earlier this month, also citing the DMA, the Commission ordered Google to give its competitors greater access to AI capabilities on Android phones and to share its search data with third-party search providers, including AI bots with search functionality.
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