Tech fines in European Union

This is a state-aid recovery, not a fine. The Commission ordered Apple to repay illegal tax benefits granted by Ireland, which produced effective tax rates as low as 0.005%. After being annulled in 2020, the order was reinstated by the EU's top court in 2024.

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.

Following a Spotify complaint, the Commission found that Apple banned music apps from telling iPhone users about cheaper subscription options available outside the App Store.

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.

The Commission penalised Microsoft for charging unreasonable royalties for the interoperability information required by the 2004 decision. On appeal the penalty was trimmed to €860M.

The European Commission found that Meta tied Facebook Marketplace to its social network and imposed unfair conditions on rival online-classifieds services.

The Commission fined Microsoft for breaking a legally binding commitment to show Windows users a browser-choice screen, which silently disappeared for roughly 15 million users. It was the first EU fine for breaching commitments.

In the first Digital Markets Act fine against Apple, the Commission found that Apple prevented developers from freely informing users about, and directing them to, cheaper purchasing options outside the App Store.

In a landmark case, the Commission found that Microsoft abused its Windows dominance by bundling Media Player and withholding interoperability information from rival server-software makers.

The Commission imposed a periodic penalty for Microsoft's failure to comply with the 2004 decision, specifically for not supplying complete interoperability information on reasonable terms.

The Commission ordered Luxembourg to recover tax advantages from Amazon, but EU courts annulled the decision, a ruling made final in 2023. It is included for completeness given its prominence.

In one of the first Digital Markets Act fines, the Commission found that Meta's pay-or-consent model forced Facebook and Instagram users to either pay a subscription or accept full data combination for personalised ads, without a genuine less-data alternative. Meta adjusted the model after the decision.