Key facts
- Google has been fined €890 million ($1 billion) by the European Union under the Digital Markets Act.
- The fine is the first issued under the EU's Digital Markets Act.
- The ruling is expected to trigger a wave of private damages claims from tech companies across Europe.
- Companies are seeking up to $10 billion in damages.
- Previous legal actions against Google for anti-competitive practices have resulted in significant damages awards.
Google faces a significant escalation of legal challenges in Europe following a record €890 million fine imposed by the European Commission under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The fine, the first issued under the new legislation, stems from findings that Google continued to favor its own services, such as shopping, hotels, and transport results, over rival offerings in search results. Additionally, the Commission found that Google restricted app developers from steering users toward cheaper payment options outside the Google Play Store.
These findings are expected to embolden tech-leaning companies across Europe to pursue private damages claims, potentially totaling up to $10 billion. Several companies have already won substantial damages in follow-on claims based on earlier EU antitrust rulings. For instance, German price-comparison site Idealo was awarded €465 million, and Producto GmbH received approximately €107 million. In Italy, Moltiply Group's subsidiary 7Pixel filed a claim for €2.97 billion, while in Sweden, Klarna-owned PriceRunner won about €1.7 billion.
The new DMA fine, covering more recent conduct than previous rulings, could strengthen these existing claims and pave the way for new lawsuits. It challenges Google's defense that it had already rectified past issues and suggests that the company's practices continued to harm fair competition. Google has rejected the characterization, with Global Affairs President Kent Walker arguing the decision forces the company to remove features users like and amounts to product degradation.