EU fines Google $1 billion over competition violations

The European Union has imposed a heavy fine on Google for allegedly using its dominance in the search engine sector to suppress other companies.

According to a statement issued by the European Commission, Google illegally used its dominant position in the search engine market to reduce competition. The statement said that Google has been fined €890 million (around $1 billion) for this violation.

The move is expected to increase trade tensions between the European Union and the United States as the Trump administration has warned of possible retaliatory measures and described EU trade policies as “unfair.”

According to the European Commission, Google unfairly used its dominant search engine position to promote its own services including shopping, travel, gaming and other platforms reaching more users.

The commission stated that Google placed its own services higher in search results while pushing competing services lower.

The statement further explained that under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, technology companies cannot show such biased behavior toward their own services and must follow transparent, fair and non-discriminatory policies.

The European Commission also accused Google of unfairly preventing developers from informing users about alternative payment options on the Google Play Store as this could reduce Google’s service fees.

This action was also considered a violation of the Digital Markets Act which aims to prevent large technology companies from establishing monopolies.

According to the statement, Google must comply with the decision within 60 days otherwise additional penalties may be imposed.

On the other hand, Google said in a statement that the decision would harm European consumers. This is not the first time the European Union has fined Google.

In 2018, the EU imposed a $4.7 billion fine on Google over the alleged abuse of its dominance in the Android mobile operating system market and Google’s final appeal against the decision was rejected.

In 2017, Google was fined $2.8 billion for abusing its dominance in the search sector while in 2024 its final appeal was also rejected.