The European Commission has fined Google a combined €890 million ($1 billion) for breaching the Digital Markets Act by favouring its own services and restricting app developers…reports Asian Lite News Desk
The European Commission on Thursday fined Google a combined €890 million ($1 billion) for breaching the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), accusing the technology company of giving preferential treatment to its own services in search results and restricting competition through its Google Play app store.
The penalties include a €460 million fine over Google’s search-related practices and a further €430 million linked to the company’s rules governing the Google Play Store.
The Commission said Google has been given 60 days to comply with its decisions or face periodic penalty payments of up to five per cent of its total worldwide turnover.
According to the Commission, its investigation found that Google favoured its own services, including shopping, hotels, transport and sports results, over those of rival providers in Google Search, in violation of the Digital Markets Act.
“Google has fallen short of effective compliance with the Digital Markets Act, and today we have taken decisive yet balanced enforcement action sanctioning these breaches. The best products should succeed because they’re better, not because they’re owned by the company running the search engine,” said Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition.
The Commission also found that Google failed to meet DMA requirements aimed at ensuring greater freedom for app developers using Google Play.
Under the legislation, developers should be able to inform customers, free of charge, about alternative purchasing options, including cheaper offers available through websites or third-party app stores, and direct users to those platforms.
However, the Commission said Google prevented developers from freely communicating and promoting such offers.
“In particular, Google prevents app developers from freely communicating and promoting offers and concluding contracts with users in distribution channels of their choice, including third-party app stores,” the Commission said in a statement.
The regulator has ordered Google to end the non-compliance and introduce measures to ensure third-party services are treated fairly in Google Search.
It also directed the company to allow app developers distributing their apps through Google Play to freely communicate, promote offers and conclude contracts with users both within and outside the Play Store, without technical or contractual restrictions.
The decision marks one of the European Union’s most significant enforcement actions under the Digital Markets Act, which seeks to curb the market power of major technology companies and promote fair competition in the digital economy.
