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The European Union levied its largest-ever fines under its landmark digital competition law against Google on Thursday, hitting the American tech giant with two separate penalties totaling 890 million euros ($1 billion) for rigging its search results in favor of its own services and blocking app developers from directing consumers to cheaper alternatives, a decision that immediately sharpened tensions between Brussels and Washington.
The European Commission said Google was fined 460 million euros for illegally promoting its own products, including Google Flights and Google Hotels, over rival services in search results.
A second penalty of 430 million euros was imposed after regulators found that Google had prevented app developers from informing consumers, free of charge, about purchasing options available outside the Google Play store.
"The best products should succeed because they're better, not because they're owned by the company running the search engine," said Teresa Ribera, the EU's competition chief.
The fines are the heaviest ever issued under the Digital Markets Act, the EU's sweeping tech competition framework that became enforceable in 2024.
The DMA designates the largest technology platforms as "gatekeepers" subject to strict rules on fair competition, and allows the Commission to impose penalties of up to 10 percent of a company's global turnover for violations.
Thursday's penalties amount to just 0.22 percent of Google's turnover, an EU official said.
The law had previously been used to fine Apple 500 million euros and Meta 200 million euros, both in 2025.
Thursday's decision marks Google's first penalty under the DMA, dwarfing those earlier sanctions.
The Commission warned that the fines could grow further. If Google fails to bring its practices into compliance within 60 days, Brussels has threatened additional periodic payments.
The case stems from a non-compliance investigation opened in March 2024, shortly after the DMA's obligations became binding on designated gatekeepers.
EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said the action was intended to open the market.
"After this decision, we want to make sure that there is more competition and also other companies are able to innovate," she said. A senior EU official noted that Google continues to favor its own services, though the Play Store fine covers only the period from March 2024 to December 2025.
Google did not accept the findings quietly. The company accused the Commission of dismantling safety protections on Google Play through its enforcement actions, arguing that steering users to third-party sites introduces security risks and that rules designed to improve products were having the opposite effect.
"Regulation should improve products, not make them worse," said Kent Walker, a senior executive at Google, in a statement.
The company has a long and costly history with EU antitrust enforcement.
Between 2017 and 2019, Brussels fined Google a combined 8.2 billion euros under traditional competition law. Last September, the Commission added a further 2.95-billion-euro penalty under separate antitrust rules, a decision that had already prompted threats of retaliation from Washington.
Thursday's announcement landed just days before the first anniversary of a tariff agreement between the United States and the EU that had eased trade friction, and the timing drew a swift rebuke from the Trump administration.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer warned that the fines "pose a real risk to the continuation of transatlantic stability with respect to trade," signaling that Washington viewed the penalties as a provocation rather than a routine regulatory matter.
The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Brussels of singling out American technology companies, and has threatened retaliatory tariffs in response to EU digital rules more broadly.
Days earlier, roughly 25 Republican lawmakers had written to President Donald Trump urging him to deploy trade investigation tools against what they called the EU's "discriminatory" digital rules, a move that could lead to higher tariffs on European goods.
Brussels appeared unmoved. Ribera acknowledged the political stakes but argued that the Commission's mandate was simply to ensure its rules were followed.
She also noted that US authorities were independently pursuing comparable cases against major tech platforms. Virkkunen was direct: "We are very committed to our rules."
The EU and the United States agreed earlier this year to address friction over digital regulation through formal talks, though those discussions have not yet begun.
Greer said Washington remained open to dialogue, but insisted that meaningful negotiations could only proceed during what he called a "ceasefire."
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