Brussels slaps €890 million fine on Google despite looming new US tariffs

The European Commission announced a €890 million fine against Google on Thursday over alleged self-preferencing practices and unfair treatment of app developers, just as the Trump administration prepares a fresh round of trade duties.

The fine caps an investigation the Commission launched in March 2024 under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law setting out a list of dos and don'ts for large tech companies that dominate key digital markets.

The flagship element of the case, leading to a fine worth €460 million, concerns Google's search engine allegedly giving systematic preferential treatment to its own services — Google Shopping, Google Hotels, Google Flights — while downgrading competitors in search results.

Self-preferencing first took centre stage as a legal theory in the landmark Google Shopping antitrust case, confirmed by the EU Court of Justice in 2024, more than a decade after the investigation was formally opened in 2010.