![\"European](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ap_6a61f259da4f3-1784803929.jpg\")
The European Commission\u2019s Thomas Regnier speaks during a media conference in Brussels [Virginia Mayo\/AP]\u2018Not fair competition\u2019<\/p>\nThe fine is part of a major crackdown on Big Tech by Brussels which says it is seeking to ensure fair competition in the digital realm.<\/p>\n
By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and AP<\/p>\n
Published On 23 Jul 202623 Jul 2026<\/p>\n
The European Union has fined Google 890 million euros ($1bn), saying the technology giant broke digital antitrust rules by steering users of Google Play and its search engine towards its own services and apps at the expense of rivals.<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s penalty is the latest in Brussels\u2019 crackdown on Big Tech, which has seen the bloc lead the world in reining in the largest firms from Silicon Valley to Beijing.<\/p>\n
Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n
Google had recently lost its appeal against a $4.5bn antitrust fine imposed for throttling competition and reducing consumer choice through the dominance of its mobile Android operating system.<\/p>\n
The European Commission, the bloc\u2019s executive branch, said it was acting in the interest of consumers.<\/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\u2019s executive vice president for clean, just and competitive transition.<\/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.<\/p>\n
The European Commission\u2019s Thomas Regnier speaks during a media conference in Brussels [Virginia Mayo\/AP]\u2018Not fair competition\u2019<\/p>\n
The fines are the biggest in total against one company under the competition law known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), after the EU slapped penalties of 200 million and 500 million euros ($228m and $570m) against Meta and Apple respectively in 2025.<\/p>\n
The DMA came into effect in 2024 and seeks to rein in what the EU views as Big Tech\u2019s excesses in a bid to ensure fair competition in the digital realm.<\/p>\n
The fines against Google have been expected for months as part of a probe that began in 2024, but Brussels has faced claims of delaying the move over fears of hurting ties with Washington.<\/p>\n
The EU can slap fines of up to 10 percent of a company\u2019s total global turnover for breaching the DMA.<\/p>\n
A second EU official said the fines were worth 0.22 percent of Google\u2019s turnover.<\/p>\n
The fines could rise further if Google fails to comply within 60 days, the commission said, threatening it with \u201cperiodic penalty payments\u201d.<\/p>\n
Google\u2019s head of global affairs, Kent Walker, said the company was being forced to \u201cstrip away real-time Search features Europeans love \u2013 like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights, and restaurants \u2013 and dismantle safety protections on Google Play\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t fair competition,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
EU \u2018discriminatory\u2019 rules<\/p>\n
Google is no stranger to EU fines.<\/p>\n
Between 2017 and 2019, the EU hit the company with fines worth a total of 8.2 billion euros ($9.3bn).<\/p>\n
Brussels imposed a 2.95-billion-euro ($3.4bn)\u00a0fine in a separate case under different antitrust rules in September last year, after which Trump threatened to retaliate against the EU.<\/p>\n
The EU, however, appeared sanguine on Thursday about any United States retaliation.<\/p>\n
The EU\u2019s duty is to \u201censure that the regulation that is being adopted by our sovereign institutions is fully enforced and respected,\u201d Ribera told reporters.<\/p>\n
She said there were similar cases in the US and American authorities were \u201cdealing with very similar approaches\u201d.<\/p>\n
The EU and the US agreed this year to address frictions linked to the bloc\u2019s digital rules through talks, but they have yet to begin.<\/p>\n
Some 25 US lawmakers belonging to Trump\u2019s Republican Party in a letter on Tuesday urged the president to use tools against the EU\u2019s \u201cdiscriminatory\u201d digital rules, such as trade investigations that could lead to higher levies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fine is part of a major crackdown on Big Tech by Brussels which says it is seeking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[18,3295,69,144,279,86,87,1865],"class_list":["post-30398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-brussels","tag-business-and-economy","tag-europe","tag-news","tag-social-media","tag-technology","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116987486126090639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30398","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=30398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}