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

Google has been fined a total of €890m (£760m) by the EU for breaches of online competition laws by its search and app store services.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said Google had broken the Digital Markets Act by giving priority to its own services such as shopping and hotel deals in search results over those of its rivals.

It also infringed the DMA by preventing app developers from steering consumers towards cheaper offers on websites or alternative app stores.

Google has been fined €460m for the search-related breach and €430m for the app store violation.

The commission has ordered Google to treat third-party services that appear in its search results in a “fair and non-discriminatory manner” and allow app developers to make offers outside Google’s app store.

It noted that Google had already started testing changes to how it displays search results featuring its own services such as shopping and flights. It said those changes represent “substantial progress towards compliance”.

Consumers will be direct beneficiaries of the decision by the EU, a senior official said. “Research results will be in different in Europe, they will have to adapt their search engine going forward,” they said.

The decision to impose the fine risks the ire of Donald Trump, only hours before a series of temporary global tariffs against about 60 countries expires.

A senior official for the EU said that they had no knowledge of how Trump was likely to react, insisting that it had the “sovereign right” to regulate US tech companies in its own jurisdiction and the timing of the fine was not connected to tariffs.

Google can appeal against the decision and ask for interim measures including a request to suspend the measure.

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