Key facts
- European regulators are intensifying scrutiny of Big Tech firms through antitrust, privacy, and safety probes.
- Alphabet's challenge to a €4.1 billion EU antitrust fine over Android was dismissed by Europe's top court.
- Apple was fined €98.6 million by Italy for alleged abuse of dominance in the mobile apps market and €500 million by the European Commission under the Digital Markets Act.
- Meta Platforms faces investigations into potential breaches of online platform rules and its 'pay or consent' advertising model.
- X was fined €120 million for breaching online content rules under the Digital Services Act, marking the first sanction under the DSA.
European regulators have significantly ramped up their scrutiny of major technology companies, launching a wave of investigations across antitrust, privacy, and online safety domains in recent years.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, recently saw Europe's top court dismiss its challenge against a €4.1 billion EU antitrust fine related to its Android mobile operating system. While a lower tribunal had reduced the initial €4.3 billion penalty from 2018, the court largely upheld the findings that Google used its OS to disadvantage rivals. Google has accumulated nearly €11 billion in EU antitrust fines over the last decade. In December, the European Commission initiated a new antitrust probe into Google's use of publishers' online content and YouTube material for artificial intelligence purposes. Although Google won an appeal against a €1.49 billion fine concerning online search advertising, it lost a separate appeal against a €2.42 billion fine related to its comparison shopping service. In Britain, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ordered Google in June to enhance transparency around search rankings and permit publishers to opt out of content usage for AI features.
Amazon.com is facing multiple regulatory actions. In February, Italy's privacy watchdog directed an Amazon unit to cease using personal data from over 1,800 warehouse workers near Rome. Concurrently, Germany's cartel office prohibited Amazon from imposing price caps on retailers using its German marketplace and sought the recovery of profits deemed to be generated through anti-competitive conduct. The EU's General Court rejected Amazon's attempt in November to overturn its designation as a platform subject to stricter obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Apple has also been a target, with Italy's competition authority imposing a €98.6 million fine in December on Apple and two subsidiaries for alleged abuse of a dominant position in the mobile apps market. The European Commission levied a €500 million fine on Apple in April 2025 under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), while Germany's Federal Court of Justice upheld a regulatory designation subjecting the company to tighter competition controls. Britain's CMA designated Apple and Google as having 'strategic market status' in October 2025, granting it powers to impose conduct requirements. In September 2024, Europe's top court upheld a previous order requiring Apple to pay €13 billion in back taxes to Ireland. Earlier, in July 2024, Apple agreed to open its tap-and-go mobile payments technology to competitors to resolve an EU antitrust probe. Brussels had also fined the company €1.84 billion earlier that year over restrictions impacting music-streaming rivals.
Meta Platforms is under scrutiny as EU regulators stated in April that Facebook and Instagram might be violating landmark online-platform rules, ordering Meta to enhance measures preventing children under 13 from accessing its services. In March, Meta announced it would grant AI rivals access to WhatsApp for a fee, following threats of interim measures from the European Commission during an abuse-of-dominance investigation. The Commission, however, later contended that the access terms could still exclude third-party providers. Meta was fined €797.7 million in November 2024 for practices favoring Facebook Marketplace and was charged in July 2024 with violating the DMA through its 'pay or consent' advertising model.
Microsoft is facing an investigation by Britain's competition regulator into its business software ecosystem, including software licensing practices in cloud computing. The company managed to avoid a potentially significant EU antitrust fine by agreeing in September to reduce prices for Office products, excluding its Teams app, after the European Commission had accused Microsoft of illegally bundling the app with its Office software suite.
TikTok has been charged by EU regulators in February with violating online content rules due to what they described as addictive platform features. The European Commission also stated in October 2025 that TikTok and Meta had failed to provide researchers with adequate access to public data as required by the DSA. TikTok was further charged in May 2025 with non-compliance regarding an advertising repository intended to help users and researchers identify scam advertisements, though it avoided a fine by offering concessions.
X, formerly Twitter, is under investigation by the European Commission regarding its AI chatbot Grok, over concerns about the potential dissemination of illegal content, including manipulated images. Ireland's Data Protection Commission initiated a formal investigation into Grok in February, and French police subsequently raided X's offices as part of a separate probe. X was fined €120 million in December for breaching online content rules, marking the first sanction under the DSA. The company submitted remedies in March concerning its blue-check verification system, which regulators are currently assessing.