Googlefines & penalties

The Commission ruled that Google required phone makers to pre-install Search and Chrome as a condition of licensing the Play Store, paid manufacturers for exclusivity, and blocked forked versions of Android. It remains the largest antitrust fine the EU has issued.

The Commission found that Google abused its dominance across the advertising-technology stack by favouring its own ad exchange (AdX) in both its publisher ad server and its ad-buying tools, a conflict of interest across the chain.

The European Commission found that Google abused its search dominance by systematically placing its own comparison-shopping service at the top of results while demoting rival services.

The Commission fined Google for imposing clauses on websites using AdSense for Search that blocked them from displaying rival search ads. In September 2024 the EU General Court annulled the decision.

Texas settled claims that Google unlawfully captured biometric data such as face and voice identifiers and made misleading claims about Incognito mode and location tracking. It is one of the largest single-state privacy settlements on record.

All 50 states settled antitrust claims over Play Store billing restrictions and deals that limited rival app stores. Of the total, $630M went to a consumer fund and $70M to the states.

France's competition authority fined Google for failing to negotiate in good faith with news publishers over payment for news snippets under the EU's neighbouring-rights rules.

Forty US states settled claims that Google misled users into believing location tracking was off while it kept collecting location data through other settings such as Web & App Activity. It was the largest multistate privacy settlement at the time.

Russia imposed a turnover-based fine on Google for repeatedly failing to delete content the government deemed banned, following an earlier 2021 penalty. Enforcement and collection were complicated after 2022, and the amounts are largely uncollected in practice.

The CNIL's largest cookie penalty against Google covered advertising inserted directly into Gmail inboxes without consent, alongside continued cookie-consent failures.

France's competition authority found that Google favoured its own ad server and ad exchange in online display advertising, and accepted binding commitments alongside the fine.

South Korea's Fair Trade Commission fined Google for blocking device makers from using customised (forked) versions of Android.

The FTC and the New York Attorney General alleged that YouTube collected personal data from viewers of child-directed channels through cookies, without parental consent, and used it for targeted advertising. It was a record COPPA penalty at the time.

The CNIL found that Google made refusing cookies far harder than accepting them, a dark-pattern design that did not amount to valid consent.

The Competition Commission of India fined Google for abusing Android's dominance through forced pre-installs and anti-forking restrictions on device makers.

In a companion decision, the CCI fined Google for forcing app developers to use Google Play Billing and its associated commission.

The CNIL fined Google for placing advertising cookies on users' devices without prior consent and without adequate information.

France's CNIL issued one of the first major GDPR fines, finding that Google lacked transparency and valid consent for ads personalisation during Android device setup.

The FTC penalised Google for circumventing Safari's default cookie-blocking to track users for advertising, despite telling those users they were protected. It was a record FTC civil penalty at the time.