European Union regulators sanctioned Google with a combined €890 million fine on Thursday, July 23, 2026, for violating market competition rules under the landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA).
⚠️ We have fined Google €890 million for breaching the Digital Markets Act, by promoting their own services and restricting customer access to alternatives on Google Search and Google Play.https://t.co/zFChIQxKua pic.twitter.com/QTqdpS6dyY
— European Commission (@EU_Commission) July 23, 2026
The European Commission split the penalty into two separate non-compliance decisions, imposing a €460 million fine for self-preferencing Google’s own shopping, transport, and hotel features within Google Search results. The officials fined an additional €430 million over restrictive steering practices that prevented app developers on the Google Play Store from directing consumers toward cheaper external payment options.
“The best products should succeed because they’re better, not because they’re owned by the company running the search engine. 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.”
Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera stated.
EU penalty on Google’s Search and EU’s recent sanctions
Previously, EU regulators opened formal investigations in March 2024, finding that enhanced visual features and top placement on Google Search systematically favoured internal services over competitors
At the same time, the European Union has expanded its regulatory scope to cryptocurrency platforms, oil trade entities, and vessels within Russia. These enforcement actions follow extensive negotiations in which Greek representatives obtained a renewable twelve-month derogation for European firms facilitating Russian LNG transfers to non-EU nations, even as a prohibition on direct imports looms for January 2026.
What happens next as Google faces regulatory deadlines?
The European Commission ordered Google to bring all non-compliant practices to an end within 60 days. Failure to implement structural fixes will result in periodic penalty payments reaching up to 5% of Google’s total global daily turnover.
In defence, Google argues that the mandated changes degrade product quality for consumers while preparing to challenge the rulings in court. This latest enforcement adds to over €10 billion in previous EU antitrust fines issued against the tech giant.
Additionally, the EU recently told Google to give OpenAI and AI rivals access to Android and search, showing a growing regulatory effort to safeguard fair competition across emerging digital and artificial intelligence markets.
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