The EU’s Next Big Tech Penalty: Why Google Faces Its First Major DMA Fine

The investigation has extended well past the DMA’s 12-month benchmark for adopting non-compliance decisions, underscoring the complexity and stakes of the case. For nearly two years, the Commission has assessed whether Google’s rich search results — which embed hotel listings, flight prices, and product comparisons — effectively crowd out specialized comparison services, making it harder for Europe’s competing platforms to reach users .

Why Have Google’s Compliance Efforts Been Deemed Insufficient?

Despite multiple rounds of regulatory dialogue, the European Commission has repeatedly found Google’s proposed remedies lacking. The company made design changes in early 2024, including a short-lived test that temporarily removed rich features and reverted to classic "blue links" for some queries . However, the Commission remained dissatisfied, concluding that the adjustments failed to address the structural self-preferencing concern.

The key compliance failures include:

• Persistent Self-Preferencing: The Commission’s non-compliance investigation found that Google's search results features and functionalities continued to treat Alphabet's own services more favorably compared to rival ones, in breach of core DMA principles .
• Inadequate Search Data Sharing: Beyond self-preferencing, Google has faced separate enforcement actions over its obligation to share ranking, query, click, and view data with third-party search engines on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms . On January 27, 2026, the Commission opened specification proceedings to formally outline the measures Google must take to comply with these data-sharing obligations .
• Industry and Publisher Pressure: Eighteen European industry, publisher, and consumer organizations formally urged the Commission to issue a non-compliance decision, stating that Google’s measures “are insufficient” and warning that further delay undermines the DMA’s credibility .

Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera addressed the slow pace of the proceedings, acknowledging the complexity of the cases but insisting a decision is imminent, stating: “It will come” .

How Does the Planned Fine Compare to Previous EU Actions?

The anticipated Google fine will be the largest penalty imposed under the DMA since the regulation came into force, dwarfing earlier fines and representing a sharp escalation in Brussels’ enforcement posture.

Fines Under the Digital Markets Act

The DMA gives regulators the power to impose penalties of up to 10% of a company’s global annual turnover, rising to 20% for repeat infringements . To date, two DMA non-compliance proceedings have concluded with fines:

• Apple: Fined €500 million for non-compliance under the DMA .
• Meta: Fined €200 million for non-compliance under the DMA .

Google’s expected penalty, described as a “high triple-digit million euro” sum, would thus exceed these precedents and become the largest fine issued under the new digital competition rulebook .

Comparison to Traditional Antitrust Fines

This DMA action sits alongside a broader history of EU antitrust enforcement against Google. Under traditional Article 102 TFEU rules, the tech giant has accumulated billions in penalties:

• In September 2025, Google was fined €2.95 billion for self-preferencing its own display advertising technology, a landmark antitrust decision that required Google to divest parts of its ad tech business .
• That fine was the fourth major antitrust penalty against Google, bringing its total EU antitrust bill to over €8 billion across multiple cases .

In total, Big Tech companies faced at least €3.77 billion in EU fines in 2025 alone, with Google receiving the single largest penalty .

Tariffs and Geopolitical Fallout

The enforcement push has already triggered international tension. Following the September 2025 Google fine, the Trump administration threatened the EU with higher tariffs in retaliation for what it viewed as targeting of American technology companies . The escalating enforcement of the DMA and Digital Services Act (DSA) now sits at the intersection of competition law and transatlantic trade policy.

What Comes Next

The immediate focus for Google and the wider tech industry is the formal non-compliance decision, expected before the summer of 2026 . The outcome will not only determine the precise penalty but will also set binding requirements for how Google must redesign its search results pages across the European Union.

Separately, Google is preparing to test new search result formats that would give rival vertical search services more prominent placement, initially targeting lodging and flight queries . These preemptive compliance measures suggest the company is already bracing for a decision that will fundamentally alter how it displays search results in Europe.

The case represents a critical moment for the DMA. After two years of investigations, preliminary findings, and industry agitation, the European Commission's credibility hinges on delivering a decision that match the law's ambitious framework. For European publishers, comparison sites, and rival search engines, the outcome will determine whether the DMA's promise of contestable digital markets becomes a reality.