Overview
- The European Commission announced on July 23, 2026 that it fined Google €890 million split into €460 million for favoring its own services in Search and €430 million for restricting app developers on Google Play.
- Regulators ordered Google to stop giving enhanced placement and special visuals to its shopping, travel and other services in search results and to allow developers to communicate and transact with users outside the Play Store.
- Google rejected the findings and said it may appeal, arguing required changes would remove real‑time Search features and weaken Play safety measures, while the company has begun testing proposed fixes that Brussels called progress.
- Brussels gave Google 60 days to comply or face further infringement procedures that could impose daily penalties of up to 5 percent of Alphabet’s worldwide daily turnover, and talks will continue over how the rules apply to Google’s AI summaries and AI Mode.
- The ruling is the first DMA fine for Google and follows earlier EU penalties under other antitrust rules, signaling a shift toward binding behavioural remedies that could change how consumers find services and how app makers compete and sell online.