EU fines Google €890M for competition breaches over search and apps

The European Commission fined Google a total of 890 million euros for breaches of the Digital Markets Act involving its search and app store services, the EU's executive arm announced Wednesday. The commission said Google gave priority to its own services such as shopping and hotel deals in search results over those of rivals. It also said Google prevented app developers from steering consumers toward cheaper offers on websites or alternative app stores. The commission ordered Google to treat third-party services in search results in a fair and non-discriminatory manner and to allow app developers to make offers outside Google's app store. Google was fined 460 million euros for the search-related breach and 430 million euros for the app store violation. Google president of global affairs Kent Walker described the fine as product degradation driven by a small group of self-serving complainants that will have a negative impact on European businesses and consumers. He argued the DMA forces Google to strip away real-time search features Europeans love and dismantle safety protections on Google Play. The commission noted Google had already started testing changes to how it displayed search results featuring its own services and said those changes represent substantial progress towards compliance. Google can appeal the decision and ask for interim measures including a request to suspend the measure.