The European Commission is fining Google 890 million euros, or just over $1 billion, citing unfair practices that it says put small and third-party companies at a disadvantage.
This decision affected two areas: Google Search and the Google Play Store.
The commission, the EU’s law enforcement arm, said Google’s search results give special treatment – including enhanced visual treatment and higher placement on search results pages – to the company’s own services than those from third parties in areas such as shopping, hotels, transport and sports.
Google also prohibited third-party developers who make apps available on Google Play from contacting users about cheap, free or special offer options, including third-party app stores, according to the Commission. It said the company could include payments to app developers to get new customers through Google Play, but the costs were prohibitive.
“The best brands should succeed because they are better, not because they belong to the company that runs the search engine,” said Teresa Ribera, vice president of the Commission for a clean, fair and competitive transition, in a statement. “And European consumers have a right to be told by app developers where to sign up for the best deals, even if the app store owner doesn’t get a cut.”
The EU orders Google to treat third-party services fairly in all search results and to allow app developers to place their apps on Google Play and freely communicate offers within and outside of the Google app store.
The fine is being levied under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, which was enacted a few years ago to protect consumer choice by curbing the “gatekeeping” behavior of big tech companies. It is in two parts: 460 million euros related to search behavior and 430 million euros related to Google Play.
Google has 60 days to comply, or face penalties. It has the right to appeal EU fines.
Google is making changes
The company said the EU action would harm European businesses and consumers.
“This DMA implementation continues to break everyday products,” Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, said in an emailed statement to CNET. “To comply, we must remove the real-time Search features that Europeans love – such as instant prices and direct availability of hotels, flights, and restaurants – and separate security protections from Google Play.”
Google is already testing changes to how it presents its services and ads on its search engine, and the EU is monitoring those updates. The Commission is also aware of Google’s plans to manage AI Overview and AI mode. At the time, it said it saw the changes already made to Google Play’s guidelines as positive progress.
Earlier this month, also citing the DMA, the Commission ordered Google to give its competitors more access to AI capabilities on Android phones and to share its search data with third-party search providers, including AI bots for search performance.
