BRUSSELS (AP) \u2014 The European Union on Thursday hit Google with a fine of 890 million euros ($1 billion) after it said the technology behemoth broke digital antitrust regulations by setting up Google Play and its ubiquitous search engine to corral consumers towards its own services and apps to the detriment of competitors.<\/p>\n
It was the latest major crackdown on Big Tech by Brussels, which has led the world in reining in some of the world\u2019s largest companies from Silicon Valley to Beijing. <\/p>\n
It has done so despite the risk of incurring the wrath of President Donald Trump, who has lashed out at the 27-nation bloc\u2019s digital regulations amid a broader campaign against Europe: imposing high tariffs, making threats to seize Greenland from Denmark by force, and rattling trust within the NATO military alliance. <\/p>\n
In the past, Trump has threatened retaliation if American tech companies are penalized.<\/p>\n
Google had recently lost its appeal of a $4.5 billion antitrust fine imposed by the EU for throttling competition and reducing consumer choice through the dominance of its mobile Android operating system.<\/p>\n
The European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch and highest antitrust enforcer, said it was acting in the interest of consumers after an investigation of Google.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best products should succeed because they\u2019re better, not because they\u2019re owned by the company running the search engine. And European consumers have a right to be told by app developers where to sign up to the best offers, even when the app store owner does not get a cut,\u201d said Teresa Ribera, the commission’s Executive Vice President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition.<\/p>\n
Google\u2019s President of Global Affairs Kent Walker blasted the fine as \u201cproduct degradation driven by a small group of self-serving complainants\u201d that will have a negative impact on European businesses and consumers.<\/p>\n
He said that the EU\u2019s Digital Markets Act forces Google \u201cto strip away real-time search features Europeans love \u2014 like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights, and restaurants \u2014 and dismantle safety protections on Google Play.\u201d<\/p>\n
The EU describes the world\u2019s seven tech giants \u2014 Amazon, Apple, Google parent Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok owner ByteDance \u2014 as \u201cgatekeepers\u201d that control access for consumers. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the EU, businesses have the right to compete fairly. Gatekeepers have the obligation to ensure a level playing field and consumers the right to choose for cheaper alternative offers,\u201d European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said. Alphabet reported $403 billion in revenue in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRUSSELS (AP) \u2014 The European Union on Thursday hit Google with a fine of 890 million euros ($1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[1580,2609,12710,1581,1579,18],"class_list":["post-30266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-ap-business","tag-ap-politics","tag-ap-technology","tag-ap-world-news","tag-associated-press","tag-brussels"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116980702612616959","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}