Google fined €890M in the first Digital Markets Act ruling on self-preferencing
€890M
≈ $1B at the time
European Commission
EU · 2026
Status: Not yet final
What happened
The European Commission found that Google gave its own shopping, hotel, transport, and sports results preferential ranking over third-party services in Google Search, and separately blocked Android app developers from telling users about cheaper purchase options outside Google Play. The €890M total splits into €460M for the search conduct and €430M for the Play Store conduct.
This is the largest penalty yet issued under the Digital Markets Act, and the first to address ranking self-preferencing rather than app-store steering alone. Google was ordered to stop both practices within 60 days or face periodic penalty payments of up to 5 percent of average daily worldwide turnover. The Commission noted that Google was already testing changes to both practices.
How it affected users
Search results steered people toward Google's own vertical services rather than the best third-party option, and app users kept paying Play Store prices because developers were prevented from pointing them to cheaper alternatives.
Status timeline
Jul 23, 2026
Commission decision issued: €460M for Search self-preferencing, €430M for Play Store anti-steering.
Effective amount: ≈ $1B
Jul 23, 2026
Google said it would appeal to the EU General Court. An appeal does not suspend the compliance obligation.
Oct 15, 2026
No General Court action against this decision found in news reporting (the CURIA register could not be searched); recorded as not yet final until a filing is confirmed.
Sources
- Commission fines Google €890 million for breaches of the Digital Markets Act (IP/26/1670)regulator
- European Commission DMA case pageregulator
Last verified 2026-10-15. Spotted an error? Report a correction.
Cite this entry
Deepak Gupta, "Google fined €890M in the first Digital Markets Act ruling on self-preferencing," Tech Fines Directory, guptadeepak.com, 2026-07-23. https://guptadeepak.com/tech-fines/violation/google-eu-dma-selfpreferencing-2026/