The European Commission has fined Alphabet approximately €890 million (about $1 billion) for two separate violations of the Digital Markets Act, more than two years after opening its non-compliance investigation into Google. The Commission announced the fines on July 23, 2026, following a preliminary ruling issued in March 2025 and a May 2026 extension granted to Google after the Commission deemed a previous remedy proposal insufficient. The Verge

The first violation, carrying a €460 million fine, concerns Google Search. The Commission found that Google gave preferential treatment to its own Shopping, Hotels, and Flights services in search results over those of third-party competitors. Under the ruling, Google must now treat third-party services in Search in a fair and non-discriminatory manner. The Verge

The second violation, resulting in a €430 million fine, targets Google's Play Store rules. The Commission determined that those rules prevented Android developers from freely steering consumers toward alternative payment options outside Google's own billing system. Google must now allow developers to freely promote offers to users both inside and outside the Play Store. The Verge

Google has been given 60 days to make the required policy changes or face further periodic penalty payments.

The DMA's maximum fine for breaches is 10% of a company's global annual revenue. Google reported $400 billion in revenue for 2025, which places its theoretical maximum DMA exposure at $40 billion. The €890 million assessed in this decision is well below that ceiling, leaving the Commission room to escalate if compliance is not forthcoming within the 60-day window. The Verge

Teresa Ribera, the Commission's executive vice-president for clean, just and competitive transition, framed the decision in terms of market fairness: "the best products should succeed because they are better, not because they are owned by the company running the search engine." The Verge

This DMA action does not exist in isolation from the broader EU competition enforcement record against Google. On July 2, 2026, the EU's top court dismissed Google's appeal against a €4.1 billion antitrust fine related to Android, originally set at €4.34 billion and reduced by a 2022 ruling. Across nearly two decades of legal disputes, four EU antitrust penalties have cost Google a total of €9.5 billion. Reuters Reuters

The trajectory toward this week's decision was visible well in advance. Reuters reported in December 2025, citing sources, that Google was expected to face EU fines in 2026 for failing to comply with rules against self-preferencing. In May 2026, Handelsblatt reported via Reuters that the EU was planning a fine in the high triple-digit millions. The €890 million total falls within that range. Reuters Reuters

The two violations address structurally different layers of Google's platform dominance. The Search ruling targets the ranking and presentation of vertical search services — Shopping, Hotels, Flights — where Google both operates the general search layer and competes downstream. The Play Store ruling targets the payment and distribution pipeline, where Google controls the primary Android app distribution channel and sets the terms under which developers can direct users to alternative billing.

The DMA differs from traditional EU antitrust enforcement in one practical respect that matters for how quickly Google must respond. Traditional competition cases, like the Android matter that reached finality on July 2, can take the better part of a decade to resolve through litigation and appeal. The DMA regime includes a compliance clock — the 60-day period now running — backed by periodic penalty payments. Google's previous proposal was already rejected once, in the lead-up to the May 2026 extension.

The broader context here is the cumulative financial exposure Google now carries under EU regulation. The €890 million DMA fine adds to the €9.5 billion in antitrust penalties already assessed across four cases. The DMA fine, while smaller than the €4.1 billion Android penalty, carries a compliance mechanism that can trigger recurring payments if Google does not satisfy the Commission's requirements within the allotted window. Whether Google's next proposal clears the Commission's bar will be evident within roughly 60 days.