$1 billion. The EU fined Google for favoring its own results and blocking cheaper app deals.

The European Commission fined Google 890 million euros on July 23 for breaking the Digital Markets Act. The penalty, roughly 1 billion dollars, splits into 460 million for favoring Google’s own services in Search and 430 million for stopping Android developers from pointing users to cheaper deals. It’s the first fine any company has drawn under the law.

What we know

The DMA has been in force since 2023, and this is the first time the Commission has actually fined anyone under it. Google was designated a gatekeeper for Search back then, and formal investigations opened in March 2024. Two separate decisions landed together: one on how Search ranks Google’s own shopping, hotel, flight, and sports results, the other on the rules Google Play imposes on developers who want to send buyers somewhere cheaper. Both, the Commission says, tilt the field toward Google. Search and Play are two of the most heavily used gatekeeper services in Europe, which is why this case matters well beyond the size of the check.

• The fine totals 890 million euros, about 1 billion dollars: 460 million for Search self-preferencing under DMA Article 6(5), and 430 million for Play Store anti-steering under Article 5(4), per the Commission’s decision and Search Engine Land’s breakdown.
• On Search, Google gave its own shopping, hotels, transport, and sports results more prominent placement and richer formatting, such as colored result boxes, than competing third-party services got.
• On Play, the Commission found Google blocked developers from freely telling users about cheaper purchase options outside the store and from concluding those deals elsewhere, while charging steering fees.
• Google has 60 days to end both practices or face periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of its average daily worldwide turnover.

“The best products should succeed because they’re better, not because they’re owned by the company running the search engine,” said Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s competition chief. The maximum available penalty was 10% of annual turnover, so 890 million lands as a fraction of the ceiling. Google had already started testing changes to how Search shows its own shopping and flight results, which the Commission called substantial progress toward compliance.

What we don’t know

Whether Google appeals is still open. The company says it’s evaluating one, and Reuters reported it is in what it called “constructive” talks with the Commission to avoid further penalties. Nothing has been filed.

• What European Search actually looks like after compliance. Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, argued that complying forces Google to “strip away real-time Search features Europeans love”, like instant hotel and flight pricing, and elsewhere Google called the shift the biggest downgrade in Search’s history.
• Whether the 60-day fix ends the matter. A separate set of Search data-sharing obligations runs to a January 2027 deadline, and the real effect of the anti-steering remedy on app prices is untested.
• How the timing plays politically, landing hours before a batch of US tariffs was set to lapse. A senior Commission official said they had no read on how Washington would react.

The two decisions come from the Commission’s own filings. The fine split and the Article references were laid out by Search Engine Land and BleepingComputer, and Google’s response ran on the company’s blog before Reuters and 9to5Google picked it up.

What this means for you

If you search from inside the EU, expect Search to look plainer over the coming weeks. Google says it’ll pull some of the rich boxes, the instant hotel and flight prices, the sports scoreboards, in favor of more standard links out to third-party sites. Whether that’s worse depends on whether you liked those boxes; plenty of people on r/europe found them handy, while others shrugged the fine off as a rounding error against Google’s revenue. For Android developers, the bigger deal is Play: you should get more room to advertise cheaper prices on your own site and skip Google’s cut, though Google warns loosening those controls exposes users to more malware and fraud. Nothing changes today. The 60-day clock is what to watch.