The European Union fined Google 890 million euros ($1 billion) on Thursday for allegedly violating digital antitrust laws by using Google Play and its widely used search engine to steer users toward its own services and applications at the expense of rivals.
It was the most recent significant crackdown on Big Tech by Brussels, which has spearheaded global efforts to restrain some of the biggest corporations in the world, from Beijing to Silicon Valley.
It has done this in spite of the possibility of provoking President Donald Trump’s wrath, who has attacked the 27-nation bloc’s digital regulations as part of a larger campaign against Europe that includes imposing high tariffs, threatening to use force to seize Greenland from Denmark, and undermining confidence within the NATO military alliance.
Trump has previously promised to take revenge if American tech businesses are punished.
Google recently lost its appeal of a $4.5 billion antitrust fine levied by the EU for using its mobile Android operating system to stifle competition and limit customer choice.
Following a probe into Google, the European Commission, the bloc’s executive department and top antitrust enforcer, declared that it was working in the best interests of consumers.
“The best goods should be successful because they are superior, not because the search engine firm owns them. According to Teresa Ribera, the commission’s executive vice president for clean, just, and competitive transition, “European consumers have a right to be informed by app developers where to sign up for the best offers, even when the app store owner does not receive a cut.”
The fine, according to Google’s president of global affairs, Kent Walker, is “product degradation driven by a small group of self-serving complainants” and would hurt European companies and consumers.
According to him, Google is compelled by the EU’s Digital Markets Act “to dismantle safety protections on Google Play and strip away real-time search features Europeans love—like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights, and restaurants.”
The seven largest digital companies in the world—Amazon, Apple, Google parent Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and ByteDance, which owns TikTok—are referred to by the EU as “gatekeepers” who regulate customer access.
Businesses in the EU are entitled to fair competition. According to Thomas Regnier, a spokesman for the European Commission, gatekeepers have a duty to provide fair competition and the freedom of consumers to select less expensive alternatives.
In 2025, Alphabet reported sales of $403 billion.
