EU is preparing a record fine against Google under the Digital Markets Act — and Google's fixes haven't worked
The European Union is preparing to fine Google with the largest penalty ever issued under the Digital Markets Act, according to a report published Tuesday by the German newspaper Handelsblatt. The fine is expected to reach into the high hundreds of millions of euros and could be announced before the European Commission's summer recess in late July.
The action targets Alphabet, Google's parent company, for violations across two of its flagship platforms: Google Search and Google Play. Regulators found that Google Search systematically favors Alphabet's own vertical services — including Google Shopping, Google Flights, and Google Hotels — over competing third-party comparison platforms. Google Play, the Android app store, allegedly restricts developers from directing users to alternative platforms or payment channels outside Google's own system.
Two years of investigation, running out of patience
The European Commission opened its formal DMA investigation into Alphabet in March 2024, and released preliminary non-compliance findings a year later in March 2025. Those findings gave Google an opportunity to respond with proposed remedies before the Commission escalated to formal non-compliance proceedings.
Earlier this month, on May 8, the Commission granted Google additional time to develop stronger proposals — a concession regulators sometimes make before finalizing enforcement actions. But according to the Handelsblatt report, Google's proposals still haven't satisfied Brussels. The final decision reportedly rests with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who must sign off on any penalty at this scale.
If the fine proceeds at the figures being reported, it would easily surpass all previous DMA penalties and set a significant precedent for how aggressively the EU intends to enforce the regulation against the largest tech platforms.
Google's defense: the fixes hurt users
Google has consistently contested the Commission's characterization of its search practices as anti-competitive. In a statement to Reuters, a Google spokesperson described the changes already made to comply with DMA requirements as "the biggest downgrade in the product's history," arguing that European users are receiving a worse search experience while competitors benefit. The company has indicated it will challenge any fine in the EU's General Court.
The tension here reflects a genuine disagreement about what "neutrality" means in search. Google's position is that surfacing its own results for flight searches or product comparisons often delivers faster, more integrated results for users. The Commission's position is that this integration prevents rivals — Skyscanner, Booking.com, Idealo — from competing on merit, regardless of the experience quality.
What the DMA allows
Unlike the EU's older antitrust regime, which required lengthy abuse-of-dominance investigations, the DMA designates certain large platforms as "gatekeepers" and imposes specific behavioral requirements that apply by default. Non-compliance proceedings can move considerably faster than traditional antitrust cases.
Under DMA rules, fines for non-compliance can reach 10% of a company's global annual revenue, with repeat violations going up to 20%. Alphabet's global revenue in 2025 exceeded $380 billion, meaning the theoretical maximum fine would exceed $38 billion. The figures being reported — high hundreds of millions — represent a fraction of that ceiling, suggesting regulators are calibrating the initial penalty rather than shooting for maximum deterrence.
The Commission has also opened DMA investigations into Apple, Meta, and TikTok, though the Google case is the farthest advanced in terms of timeline and enforcement readiness. How the Google penalty lands — and whether it prompts genuine behavioral change or just litigation — will set the tone for DMA enforcement across the entire gatekeeper ecosystem.