The European Union on Thursday hit Alphabet’s Google with fines totaling 890 million euros ($1 billion), in a move that risks escalating tensions with the United States.
The EU fined the U.S. tech giant 460 million euros for illegally favoring its own services – such as Google Flights and Google Hotels – over rivals in search results.
A second fine of 430 million euros was levied because Google barred app developers from showing consumers offers, free of charge, outside the app store Google Play, the European Commission said in a statement.
The fines underscored Europe’s determination to prevent Big Tech companies from thwarting rivals, defying U.S. criticism and retaliatory tariff threats.
“After this decision, we want to make sure that there is more competition and also other companies are able to innovate,” EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said.
A senior EU official said Google still favors its own services, though the second fine covers only the period from March 2024 to December 2025.
‘Not fair competition’
The U.S. tech giant criticized the EU findings and said it might take the Commission to court. It also accused the EU of dismantling safety protections on Google Play through its enforcement.
“To comply, we are having to strip away real-time Search features Europeans love – like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights, and restaurants – and dismantle safety protections on Google Play,” Google President of Global Affairs Kent Walker said in a statement.
“This isn’t fair competition; it’s product degradation driven by a small group of self-serving complainants, with European businesses and consumers taking the hit,” Walker noted.
“Regulation should improve products, not make them worse.”
The fines land just days before the first anniversary of a tariff deal between Washington and Brussels that had eased trade tensions.
President Donald Trump’s administration has repeatedly accused Brussels of targeting U.S. tech firms and has threatened retaliatory tariffs.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the fines and other EU actions undermined hopes for smoother trade ties, warning they “pose a real risk to the continuation of transatlantic stability with respect to trade.”
Greer said in a statement noting a recent record loan to Airbus from the EU lending arm: “It becomes clear that the EU continues to target the most competitive U.S. companies.” He did not mention any U.S. plans to retaliate.
‘Constructive’ talks to avoid more penalties
The penalties are the largest yet against a single company under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the EU’s signature tech competition law.
In 2025, the bloc fined Meta 200 million euros and Apple 500 million euros under the same rules.
The DMA, which took effect in 2024, aims to curb what Brussels views as Big Tech’s excesses and ensure fair competition in the digital economy. Washington firmly objects to the DMA and other EU tech regulations.
Under the DMA, the EU can fine companies up to 10% of their global turnover for violations.
An EU official said Thursday’s penalties amount to just 0.22% of Google’s turnover.
The Commission warned the fines could grow further, threatening “periodic penalty payments” if Google fails to comply within 60 days.
“The best products should succeed because they’re better, not because they’re owned by the company running the search engine,” EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said in a statement.
The Commission still pointed to a “constructive dialogue” with Google and significant progress made to comply with the DMA, indicating that daily penalties for non-compliance are likely off the table.
“Google has proposed and started testing changes to how it presents its own services on Google Search for free services such as shopping, hotels and flights,” the Commission said, calling it substantial progress.
“The Commission also notes that Google has proposed and started testing changes to how it presents shopping ads and content related services, such as sports,” it said.
The EU watchdog also said Google may apply the principles of Thursday’s decision to its AI-generated summaries known as AI Overviews and AI Mode and that talks would continue to this end.
Google’s changes to its steering terms on Google Play received a tentative thumbs up from the Commission.
“These constitute good progress towards compliance and will also be assessed in light of the cease and desist order of today’s decision,” it said.
EU ‘discriminatory’ rules
Google is no stranger to EU fines.
Between 2017 and 2019, Brussels hit the company with penalties totaling 8.2 billion euros, and in September last year imposed a separate 2.95-billion-euro fine under different antitrust rules – a move that prompted Trump to threaten retaliation.
The EU appeared unfazed Thursday by the prospect of a fresh U.S. response.
Brussels’ duty, Ribera told reporters, is to “ensure that the regulation that is being adopted by our sovereign institutions is fully enforced and respected.”
She noted that U.S. authorities were pursuing “very similar approaches” in comparable cases of their own.
The EU and the United States agreed earlier this year to address friction over the bloc’s digital rules through talks, though those discussions have yet to begin.
Greer said Washington was seeking to “resolve our concerns” about the EU rules through dialogue, but that “real dialogue can only take place during a cease-fire.”
The fines against Google had been expected for months, the product of a probe launched in 2024, though Brussels has faced accusations of delaying the decision out of concern for relations with Washington.
On Tuesday, some 25 Republican lawmakers urged Trump in a letter to use tools such as trade investigations against the EU’s “discriminatory” digital rules – a move that could trigger higher tariffs.
Virkkunen insisted Europe would not back down.
“We are very committed to our rules,” she told journalists.
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