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Europe fines Google €890 million. The number is the least of it

Brussels sanctions Google for favouring its own services in Search and for making it hard for developers to point users to cheaper purchases outside Google Play. It has 60 days to change.

Facade of the Berlaymont building, seat of the European Commission in Brussels
Image: EmDee · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Google is not losing for having better products, but for placing them ahead of everyone

The European Commission fined Google €890 million for two separate DMA breaches: €460 million for self-preferencing in Search and €430 million for Google Play steering restrictions.

Brussels does not demand Google hide its products — only that it stop using control of Search to rank them above rivals by default.

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The Google Play part touches what we pay

Developers should be able to tell customers about cheaper offers outside the store. The Commission found Google limited that communication and charged fees for longer and at higher rates than allowed.

If Google truly complies, apps gain freedom to show external links and compete on price.

Official portrait of Teresa Ribera, European Commission Executive Vice-President for Competition
Image: La Moncloa - Gobierno de España · Atribución
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€890 million impresses, but Brussels wants something else

Google has 60 days to end the breaches. The decision lands a week after Brussels ordered Google to open Android to rival AI assistants competing with Gemini.

The Commission is attacking the centre of the model: Google can keep building better tools, but it can no longer referee the competition it plays in.

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