Google fined €890 million for DMA breaches
The European Commission has fined Google a total of €890 million for two separate breaches of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Under the DMA, large digital platforms must not treat their own services more favourably in ranking than third-party services.
The commission fined Google €460 million after finding that its Google Search gave preferential treatment to its own services – including shopping, hotels, transport, and sports results – over those of third parties.
The technology firm was also fined €430 million for putting in place restrictions on businesses to direct consumers to alternative, often cheaper, purchase channels on Google Play.
‘Decisive and balanced’
Commissioner responsible for competition Tersea Ribera described the sanctions as “decisive yet balanced”.
“The best products should succeed because they're better, not because they're owned by the company running the search engine,” she stated.
As part of its two decisions, the EU body has ordered Google to implement measures to:
- Treat third-party services that feature on Google's search results in a fair and non-discriminatory manner by reference to its own services, and
- Allow app developers distributing their apps via Google Play Store, both technically and contractually, to freely communicate, promote offers, and conclude contracts with users not only within, but also outside the Google Play app store.
‘Progress’ towards compliance
The commission noted that Google had proposed and started testing changes to how it presented its own services on Google Search for free services such as shopping, hotels, and flights.
It described these developments as “substantial progress” towards compliance.
The EU body also welcomed changes to Google’s steering for Google Play as “good progress” towards compliance.
Google must comply with the commission's decisions within 60 days, otherwise it risks periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of its total worldwide turnover.