EU Fines Google €890m for Violets Digital Markets Law

The European Union has fined Google €890m (£760m) for breaching online competition rules through its search engine and app store practices.

The European Commission's executive body said Google violated the Digital Markets Act by favouring its own services such as shopping and hotel deals with over competitors in search results. It also found Google guilty of blocking app developers from directing users to cheaper deals on external websites or alternative app stores.

Of the total fine €460m relates to the search-related breach while €430m covers the app store violation.

The Commission has ordered Google to treat third-party services appearing in its search results fairly and without discrimination and to allow app developers to offer deals outside Google's own app store. It noted that Google had already begun testing changes to how search results are displayed in particularly for its own shopping and flight services by calling this "substantial progress towards compliance."

A senior EU official said consumers across Europe would directly benefit from the ruling as Google's search engine would need to adapt to show different results in the region.

The decision comes at a sensitive moment, just hours before a set of temporary global tariffs imposed by the US on around 60 countries were due to expire with raising concerns it could provoke a reaction from President Donald Trump. An EU official said the bloc had no insight into how Trump might respond but stressed the EU had the sovereign right to regulate US tech firms operating within its jurisdiction also the fine's timing had no link to the tariffs.

Google is expected to appeal the decision and may seek interim measures with a suspension of the ruling while the appeal is considered.