BRUSSELS / WASHINGTON — The European Union has reignited transatlantic trade tensions by imposing a massive penalty on U.S. tech giant Google. The European Commission announced on July 23 that it has levied a combined €890 million ($970 million / 1.5 trillion KRW) fine on Alphabet’s Google for violating the EU’s landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA). The penalty marks the largest single enforcement action since the DMA came into force to curb the market power of major technology platforms.
According to the European Commission, the fine consists of two separate enforcement decisions. A €460 million fine was levied against Google for "self-preferencing" its own specialized search services—such as Google Shopping, travel, hotels, and sports results—over third-party competitors by granting them superior visual prominence at the top of search queries. The remaining €430 million penalty was imposed over anti-steering practices within the Google Play Store, where regulators found that Google restricted app developers from freely directing consumers toward cheaper external payment channels.
Under the DMA, designated "gatekeepers" are legally prohibited from prioritizing their own offerings over rivals or limiting developer autonomy. The Commission has given Google 60 days to implement full compliance measures, warning that failure to meet the deadline could trigger periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of the company's global daily turnover.
Google strongly disputed the decision, asserting that compliance would force the removal of popular search capabilities. Kent Walker, Alphabet's President of Global Affairs, stated that forcing the removal of real-time search functions and dismantling Google Play safety protections would ultimately degrade user experience, harming European consumers and businesses.
The regulatory action drew an immediate and fierce reaction from the United States government. Jamieson Greer, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), released a statement criticizing the EU’s "increasingly aggressive approach targeting U.S. tech companies". Greer pointed out that total EU fines against Google alone now exceed 2% of the EU’s entire budget—surpassing the financial contributions of several individual EU member states. He further warned that such enforcement actions create significant economic uncertainty for American exports and severely undermine the trade stability of the transatlantic alliance.
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